


The Dragon of Inaba

by Manic_Misanthrope



Series: Yakuza/Persona Universe [3]
Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series, 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Persona 5 Protagonist is from Inaba, Post-Game(s), Slice of Life, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2020-09-06 03:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20284423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manic_Misanthrope/pseuds/Manic_Misanthrope
Summary: All Kazuma Kiryu needed to do now once his life was over was to start a new one. Moving away from the big cities and into the sleepy town of Inaba under a false name leaving only one problem: What to do about a certain kid trying to constantly sneak his cat in everywhere.





	1. Chapter 1

The sliding doors to the gates of leisure stood across the baking road. In the shade of a nearby tree, a Yasogami High school student fumbles with his large schoolbag, cursing as he tried repeatedly to re-order the contents in the hope of finding more space in the fabric or at least to muffle the other noises emerging from it “Come on, just be quiet...” he whispered into the bag, the sun reflecting off his glasses as the wind ruffled the leaves above and his raven coloured hair.

“It's not working!” Came a voice from inside that only the one student could hear “How am I supposed to stay quiet with a book on... I can't see what it's on because it's up my butt!” Came the complaint as the complainer emerged. A black cat with a white fur belly popped his head out with a surprisingly serious expression for what looked like a normal house cat with a yellow neckerchief.

“Look, how else are we supposed to get passed this guy? Unless you like getting sunburn by the river this is literally the only thing to do!” The student chastised in a terse whisper “Just keep quiet until he reach the lifts and we're fine, Morgana.” he finished.

“Easy for you to say Ren, you don't have calculus crushing your tail.” Morgana whined as Ren zipped the bag back up and crossed the road, aiming straight for the Junes shopping centre main opening.

It was all well on the outside, not a single sole raised an eyebrow at a schoolkid in his third year walking into Junes, it was a thing that just happened in Inaba. Places to be and things to do were in short supply, the main street hung on through niches so niche that they had been hand carved into the town's culture but unless he was going to develop a sudden love of blacksmithing or textiles, Junes was still the best place to be. Or at least, it had been until _he_ showed up.

The former Phantom Thief thought he was in the clear with his complaining backpack, but as soon as he hit the button to call the lift he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Taking a deep breath he turned his head to try and let the sunlight bounce off his glasses, hiding his eyes from the merciless glare of Junes' new security guard.

“Hey... kid...” The large man said, eyes piercing through the glass and into Ren's soul, “What's in the backpack?” Hiroki Ryu had apparently only been in Inaba for a year, but already he seemed to be intent on making the already dreary post-Tokyo life even worse by being both a stickler for the rules, rules such as 'No animals except working dogs' which in Morgana's mind was blatantly unfair on the grounds that he wasn't a cat... and by being six feet tall with a glare that said 'I can end you in an instant'. It made even the fearless leader a little worried about openly antagonizing him.

“Books. Haven't had time to head home and drop them off.” he said cooly while Morgana held his breath inside.

“Seems an awful lot of books.” the security guard repied not believing a word of it.

“Well I got the college entry exams to prep for, third year is pretty rough...” Ren tried to explain, cursing himself as he heard his voice trail off unconvincingly. It wasn't long afterwards that he found himself being shoved back onto the street, Morgana in hand as he stumbled over the curb sending a book on political theory jumping out of his backpack and on to the tarmac “What if I tripped and fell?” he yelled back “This is animal abuse!”

“Let's just get home...” Morgana groaned, yawning in Ren's arms “Forget about trying to get past that monster.”

“Alright,” the scruffy haired student sighed, gathering his scattered stuff “Where does a guy like that even show up from?”

* * *

Kazuma Kiryu was dead, he knew this was true because he had checked the death certificate himself to make sure they got his age right. At the time it struck him as a weird thing to do, reading your own obituaries and paperwork that condemned the Dragon Of Dojima to the history books, but it really was the only way. People had merely thought of him as dead before and something always cropped up, pulling him back. Now it was official, Kazuma Kiryu was officially in ever sense of the term: an Ex-Yakuza.

All he needed to do now once his life was over was to start a new one.

If he stayed too close to Haruka and Haruto so soon it was only going to make it all the easier for something from his past life to crawl back and try to snatch away what vestige of happiness he could find, so with the help of Detective Date he tried to start a new life in the sleepy town of Inaba. With the name Hiroki Ryu he set himself out as a real estate developer, going back to his days with Tachibana to keep his story straight, now semi-retired and looking to get away from it all and enjoy the more basic things in life without the heart pounding stress of the city. It was half-true at least, and with both government assistants and Date vouching for him, it had worked off well.

Inaba was calmer than anywhere else he'd lived, it had been too long since he'd been able to walk the main street by himself without some idiot or someone trying too hard to make an insurance scam work jumping him and starting a fight. He was able to fish in peace along the river, strike up conversations with people in the few bars, and there was even a little shop that did custom dolls for him to send to Haruto.

A few months in he applied for a part-time security job to find something to do and that was... well... that. He got the job with very few questions asked and theoretically his only problem was keeping out a black haired youth who seemed obsessed with breaking the rules “That has to be the tenth time he's tried to sneak that cat in...” he groaned, stepping back into the lobby with a sigh. He could have sworn that the cat gave him a serious Look when he plucked it from the backpack and placed it in the kid's arms. It never tried to claw or his at him, it just looked angry at him for having the audacity to pick him up and deny access to the fresh food section.

“Everything alright here?” Called a young voice as a police officer's cap poked through the door with a light brown bowl cut underneath it “I heard shouting and thought I'd better get moving before you had to put someone through a wall.”

“It's just that kid with the cat again, officer Satonaka.” Hiroki explained, stiffening up as the beat cop walked in, all smiles.

“Again?” Police Officer Chie Satonaka sighed “Ever since he got back from Tokyo he's been a pain in the butt to hear the teachers talk about it,” Nothing was a secret for too long in a town this small, when someone starts gossiping for lack of anything else to talk about it was hitting the outskirts before the initial gossiper had finished talking “Maybe he's just got something against authority figures?” She pondered.

“And that means trying to sneak a cat in to a department store?” Hiroki asked with a noticeable amount of disbelief. In his experience people with a problem with authority figures were a lot worse than being just a regular nuisance.

“It's not just that! ...But it's mostly the cat thing. He tried taking it in to Aiya's for the Mega Beef Bowl last week as well! Maybe they're way less strict about cats everywhere in Tokyo so he just got used to carrying it around for a year. Like it's emotional support.” Chie suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

“He'll learn eventually,” Hiroki said in hope “At least he's not trying to start any major trouble for now.”

“Hopefully before that cat starts a fight,” she sighed before snapping back to smiling “Oh! Did you give any thoughts about coming to training this week?”

“Maybe... I'm not as athletic as you think I am, Satonaka. I don't think I could last through a full police training session.” he said, trying to weasel his way out of revealing that all that bulk wasn't for show.

“That's what you said last time!” Chie complained before a buzz on her uniform pulled her back to some semblance of professionalism “Uh oh, gotta get back to my post or my partner's gonna think I ditched him again. See you, Ryu! Training at 7 in the morning on Saturday and tell Hanamura I'll kick his butt if he doesn't let you go. I know where he lives!” She waved before sprinting back out of the door, leaving Hiroki to chuckle to himself.

“Another day in paradise.” He mused to himself as he let the air conditioners gently blow against his face, taking the edge off the heat from the sun's glare. It had taken a while, but things had finally seemed to calm down for not just him, but everyone.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiroki stepped through the side door in the High Street, next to the Shiroku store into the local bar, waved in by Detective Date as he ducked in through the low hallway “Hiroki! How you been?” He called out with a good natured cheer, it looked like the drinking had already started before he'd gotten there.

“Good, thanks,” the big man answered, taking the seat on his right, a glass of local liquor placed in front of him with just a nod “Had to talk to the manager about a weekend shift.”

“They're making you work weekends at your age?” Date asked.

“You're older than me and you're on the job constantly.” Hiroki pointed out with his usual scowl.

“Yeah, but I get to sit down at my job. Standing's for the rookies, isn't that right Dojima?” He said, turning to the grey haired man sitting the other side.

“Damn straight! So's the coffee run. We got more important things to do.” The other detective cheered as Hiroki stiffened up at the name.

“_I_ got more important things to do. You can't be that busy here, it's the middle of nowhere with a shopping mall,” Date joked “But that's why you two like it here I guess. Anyway, I should do the introductions, Ryotaro Dojima, meet Hiroki Ryu.” He said, gesturing between the two only noticing Hiroki's expression too late.

“Something wrong?” Dojima asked, his tone switching from happy drunk to inquisitive policeman at the drop of a hat.

“Relax, he's not related,” Date said to Hiroki before spinning back to his fellow detective “Hiroki here used to do Real Estate in Tokyo back in the late eighties.”

Realisation dawned on the younger detective, and offence was replaced with sympathy “Ouch, problems with the Yakuza, I take it?”

“Well...” Hiroki began nervously before Date cut in again.

“It was the eighties, the Dojima clan were everywhere in Tokyo back then. Too much money flying around.” The oldest of the three explained.

“I get it, made my life hell applying for the force too,” Ryotaro said with a smile “They thought I was undercover for them. I said 'Look, if I was going undercover into the police force as a secret member of a gang, wouldn't I use a name that didn't tie me to them?' Faded away pretty fast after that.” He laughed as Hiroki started to relax.

“So how've you been holding up here? Little Nanako doing okay?” Date asked.

“She's not that little any more, she started high school this year.” Dojima answered.

“Already? Wow, how time flies,” Date sighed “Everything alright with the school?”

“Its Yagosami High. Pretty much the same as it's ever been. I think the only thing that's changed in the past ten years is what shade of magnolia they use for the walls,” he chuckled “There's been no big problems for years.”

“And you've watched it like a hawk since she started there.”

“Well sometimes we have to get out of the office to stretch our legs, daily exercise and all.”

“Sitting in a cop car in the school parking lot doesn't count.”

“Why not? You used that excuse for a year.”

“And I stopped afterwards, now I just admit I'm a lazy bum.” The two bantered back and forth as Hiroki smirked on the sidelines, worries pushed aside.

* * *

Nanako Dojima was in a bit of trouble. She really only had herself to blame for it, but a visit from her big bro had caused her to drop everything she had planned for Sunday to be with him and the rest of what they affectionately called the Investigation Team. Even though Yosuke, Kanji, Chie, Yukiko and Teddie had stayed in Inaba it was always special when the whole group got together. The problem with that was that her homework had been neglected and now it was due in by the end of the lunch break and she was struggling to complete it. Being in the library hadn't helped, she needed someone to guide her through and fast.

The question was who to ask: several of her classmates seemed to be shiftily avoiding the topic when she'd tried to bring it up and the girl at the top of her class was nowhere to be found, added to that all of the other classes had formed lunch groups already leaving no-one for her to approach, except for one.

Rumours had surrounded Ren Amamiya since his departure from Inaba over a year ago, how he'd snapped and assaulted someone, and now he was back for the senior year his time in Tokyo had only made the rumours grow scarier and wilder. While the student base of Yasogami High wasn't opposed to an air of mystery surrounding some of the students, they drew the line at associating with those who had seen the inside of a Juvenile Detention Centre, and as such, Ren was often eating lunch alone even when he wasn't on his phone. Or when he wasn't having long conversations with his backpack for some reason.

On the one hand, her father had told her not to interact with anyone suspicious, and the glasses-wearing delinquent certainly fit that bill. On the other hand he was consistently top of his class by a significant margin, if anyone could help her quickly it was going to be him and if he was really a problem child he'd still be in prison, right? That's what she told herself as she awkwardly shuffled up to him while he stuffed what looked like a piece of food back in his backpack “Uh... hello?” She asked, holding the book in question behind her back.

He snapped up from his bag quickly enough to make her jump but was otherwise calm “Hi?” He said back, slowly smiling.

“I-I was wondering,” she began “I'm in a bit of a tight spot with...”

“You've got homework due in next lesson?” Ren asked quickly.

“No!” Nanako snapped immediately “I mean yes!” She hissed out quietly “I can do most of it but there's some questions that take too long to do at the same time so...”

“On one condition,” Ren interrupted “You,” he pointed at the smaller girl “Have to promise me that you will never tell anyone else about what's in this bag.”

“O-okay? Don't I have to know what's in it to not tell people about it?” She asked as Ren sat the backpack back down and opened the zip, furtively checking to see if the coast was clear before the head of a black cat popped out from within. “Eeeee!” Nanako began to squeal.

“Great, now she's going to want to pet me...” Morgana sighed as Nanako tried to quiet herself.

“You like the attention,” Ren dismissed before looking back up at Nanako “So do I have your confidence in this matter? It'd be bad if Morgana here got caught,” The first year student nodded furiously as Ren chuckled “Let's go then.”

* * *

“Anyway, she's doing great! Aparently she was top of the class on the last homework assignment, and that came after Yu showed up for the Sunday.” Dojima chatted.

“This is the first time we've met.” Hiroki pointed out.

“Not you you, Yu! My nephew!” Dojima yelled “Am I slurring it that badly?”

“You're slurring it a little.” Date conceded.

“Well, he's been trying to make detective in Osaka but he finally got some leave together to come back here for a few days. Big high school reunion deal.”

“Sounds fun.” Hiroki chimed in.

“What about you, Ryu. Got any family?” Dojima asked, not noticing Date and Hiroki's subtle build of tension as the topic turned towards him.

“Just a daughter.” Hirko said, trying to keep his tone level.

“So what's she up to?” Dojima continued.

“Hey uh... Dojima,” Date cut in, sidling up to his fellow detective “Ix-Nay the whole Amily-Fay line.”

“Oh, sorry. Touchy subject.” he apologized, guessing what he meant by 'Just a daughter'. A place he'd been before.

“It's fine, you weren't to know.” The big man sighed, clinking an empty glass on the counter.

“Anyway, I think you need to get home to your little angel about now,” Date commented “You had a head start on the both of us and whatever's in this local stuff is pretty strong.”

“I think it's...” Dojima trailed of “You know, I never asked.”

“All the more reason to cut off now and get you home,” Date said, the stool creaking as he stood up to sling an arm around the slightly younger detective before calling out “No offence.” to the bartender, carrying Dojima out the door.

“Still feel weird not having to dodge traffic in the street on a moonlit stroll?” Dojima asked as they made their way out of the shopping district. It wasn't the main thing Hiroki was used to dodging in a Tokyo night but the big man nodded along anyway.

“It's nicer this way,” Hiroki said with a smile as the three approached the Dojima residence, a light still on in the window “Did your daughter leave a light on for you?” he asked.

“Probably,” he shrugged “Doubt she's going to be up this late, it's a school night.”

“Unless she's got homework.” Date suggested.

“Nah,” Dojima dismissed as he fumbled for his keys “Like I said, she's pretty on top of things, damn... like I'm not,” he growled as he dug deeper into his pockets “They're in one of these damn things... it's like a ski jacket with all these pockets... anyone got a light to shine in? Help me out here!” He called out.

As Date and Hiroki reached for their phones the Dojima residence door opened without their assistance, but instead of the first year brunette at the door waiting for her dad, it was the black messy mop belonging to someone else, the detective fought the urge to instantly yell as he said “Ah, you must be Nanako's father. Welcome back.”

“Who. Are. You?” Was the reply through gritted teeth.

“Oh, right. Introductions. Probably should have done that first. My bad, I'm Ren Amamiya.” He said with an unflinching smile in the face of certain death, even sticking out his hand for a good natured handshake, his smile only waning slightly as he saw the shape of Hiroki out in the gloom.

“Ren! Morgana keeps trying to get in the snack cup-” Nanako called out from further inside, cutting herself off when she noticed the open door “Dad!” She yelped, trying not to sound like she'd been caught with a boy in the house.

“I was helping her with her homework assignments and then she mentioned that her dad, which I'm assuming means you otherwise there are a lot of questions that need answering, was heading out tonight so I offered to let her look after Morgana for some company but then I realised he was going to be such a handful to someone who's never had a cat in the house. She instantly tried to put hair clips on him. He was so mad, adorable, but mad.” Ren explained while Detective Dojima's knuckles started to whiten from clenching his fists too tightly.

“That was nice of you. You can go home now.” Dojima said with remarkable calmness given the obvious amount of rage.

“The balls on this kid...” Date whispered to Hiroki.

“Remember what I said my biggest problem was?” Hiroki whispered back.

“He's the crazy cat kid?” Date asked, earning a nod from the bigger man “Eesch, small town, small world I guess.”

“Just one moment, Morgana! We're leaving!” Ren called out before a black cat suddenly walked out of the house “Nice to meet you.” He said with the utmost sincerity as he disappeared into the night.

“We should ah... be going as well,” Date theatrically yawned, putting a shoulder onto Dojima's shoulder “Go easy on her, she's fine,” He warned. Sighing as the object of his ire disappeared from view, Detective Dojima nodded and shuffled in “Sorry about the rough end to the night.” he apologized as he and Hiroki took off back to his apartment.

“It's no-one's fault. Just a shock at the end.” Hiroki shrugged

“I guess, but anyway: when that kid walked out, was it me or did the cat give you the stink eye?”

“...Did it?”

“I ain't a cat person, but it really looked like it didn't like you, but it was calm about it. Not even a hiss or a scratch.”

“It probably remembers me from the times I kicked it out of Junes,” the big man shrugged, adding a “Not literally.” after noticing the detective's expression.

“Weird kid, weird cat.” Date concluded.

“I guess...” Hiroki sighed, as much as he wanted to say the detective had just had one too many shots of the local booze, he knew exactly what look he meant, and it wasn't one associated with normal cats “Hope he doesn't try to rope Nanako in for one of his 'get the cat in' schemes.” he grimaced as Date chuckled.

“He tries that, it won't be the cat getting neutered!” Date chuckled.

“Maybe that wasn't the best idea.” Ren confessed as he walked down the quiet streets.

“If those pictures show up online... I am leaving you here. I will go to Tokyo on my own and I will cry into Lady Ann's chest about it so hard she'll adopt me.” Morgana threatened.

“Oh please, you looked so cute in the dress.”

“It was a dolls' dress! For Dolls!”

“Still cute, and don't worry. No-one here will ever find out, I'm deleting them as we speak.” Ren promised, thumbing the send button and placing his phone on mute. He didn't need it buzzing at 3 am while Ryuji laughed his ass off.


	3. Chapter 3

There weren't too many people Hiroki could fully trust with privileged information in Inaba. Not that everyone wasn't friendly and helpful whenever possible, but some tasks required a great deal of secrecy, not everything was meant to be shared and this was one of them “So you'll have it ready soon?” he asked the other man in the dimly lit room, arcane tapestries hanging from every wall, a small table in front of them both with discreet pictures lying on top.

“Still got a bit of work to do first but yeah, hopefully it's something I can knock out in a week.” The other man said in a gruff voice, slipping the pictures into an envelope.

“Thanks, Kanji.” Hiroki sighed in relief, standing up straight.

“No problem, I get why you'd wanna keep this stuff secret,” Kanji Tatsumi said, standing up straight and running a hand through his dyed blond hair “Place like this, someone finds out you got a grandkid runnin' around?” he added with a grimace.

“I don't want to think about it.” Hiroki winced, if people started digging into who was getting these custom made gifts and from who, this whole second life would be just a re-run of the end of his first.

“Alright, anything else you want while we're here?” He asked, reaching up for the store light switch, flicking the room into darkness before back into proper illumination “Piece of crap bulb...” he cursed as all the works in progress became visible: tablecloths, curtains, even the odd article of clothing hung up on display and one piece caught Hiroki's eye.

“That one isn't your normal work.” the big man pointed out, directing the blond's attention to the bright yellow and blue varsity jacket hanging in the corner, gently shimmering behind a large roll of more traditional fabric. Two yellow dragons roaring at each other across the chest of the outfit, and a cold sense of familiarity radiating off it.

“Oh yeah,” Kanji groaned as he saw it “Thought I'd hid it better than that... it's pretty much the 80s underworld in tacky jacket form. Might as well have punk stamped on your head wearing this.” the man wearing a tank top with blond spiky hair said without a trace of irony in his voice.

“Yeah...” Hiroki said uneasily “Is that yours or..?”

“Nah, not my size or style. It's my mom's.” Kanji answered with a shrug.

If the security guard was drinking anything, he would have spat it straight out “Y-your mom's!?” He gasped. He had seen Mrs Tatsumi around the town but the two had never talked, but she always seemed to have very heavy shopping bags for someone who looked at least sixty.

“Pretty much, thing's been hanging up in the house for so long, the only reason the moths don't eat it is 'cause even they got tastes, but she refused to throw it out.” Kanji sighed, his shoulders slumping.

“I've taken up too much of your time.” Hiroki said abruptly, giving a quick bow before heading out of the store as fast as possible while still being polite, leaving Kanji to just look at the closing door with a very confused expression.

* * *

Things had gone on for too long, it had been months since arriving in Inaba and he still hadn't gotten past the elevator! The food hall was calling out to him through the streets, the allure of modern comforts had been denied for the last time! This time, Morgana was getting into Junes, if only to see what all the fuss was about before Ren decided that while _he_ was free to go to the shopping centre, Morgana would be stuck playing dress-up for pictures with Nanako. The cognitive cat had a plan: find a route of entry that wasn't patrolled by irritable cat-hating giants, secure the secret route for repeated use, tell Ren about said secret route, let him go in the main way and get frisked by security while he used the not-as-secret-any-more route and rejoin in the food hall for a celebratory meal! It was the perfect plan, now the adorable cat burglar had to pull it off.

There had to be more than one way in, it was a safety hazard otherwise, and merchandise had to go in and out somehow. Security at goods entrances were there to stop people, not animals (with the exception of that one time a wild deer charged at a rack of raincoats) so it should be a simple task to run in under a moving trolley and make his way through to the public floor. Unfortunately for the black furred kitty cat, the main obstacle was in his way yet again.

“It's not a problem if you want the weekend off, you've earned it!” A young man with light brown hair, the stubble of an attempted moustache, a slightly formal but mostly casual shirt and a name badge reading Yosuke Hanamura said with a smile, slapping the security guard on the back.

“No, that's not what I meant. I need to work this Saturday morning.” Hiroki said with an air of exasperation.

“Wait, you need to work this Saturday?” Yosuke repeated with a shocked expression. Nobody offered to work extra shifts unless they were desperate for cash, and he knew Hiroki wasn't going to be begging for a few bills any time soon “What gives?”

“...Well...” the big man hesitated as Morgana took his chance to switch hiding spots with their backs turned.

“If you work extra, I'm gonna have to cut another guys hours and that ain't gonna be easy to do.” Yosuke shrugged.

With nothing else for it, Hiroki tried the truth “It's Officer Satonaka,” he confessed, earning a raised eyebrow from the manager and attracting the attention of a blond teenager half-in a mascot costume “She's... she's invited me for training.”

Yosuke instantly grimaced at the horrible memories that resurfaced “Oh yeah, fair enough,” he nodded “I'll see what I can do with the guy who normally runs Saturday mornings, maybe see if we can do a shift swap.”

“Thank you Hanamura-san.” Hiroki bowed.

“Aww, why don't you want to go training with Chie-chan?” The blond boy asked.

“Teddie, don't you remember when she roped me into one of those training sessions?” Yosuke snapped “I almost ended up in intensive care _and_ she was going easy on me!”

“Well... maybe it'd be different for Hiroki?” Teddie suggested.

“I don't think I want to take the risk at my age.” Hiroki justified.

“Aww, you're not that old!” the blond continued, refusing to either give up or just get out of the costume “Your knees hardly creak at all!”

“Thank you Teddie,” Yosuke hissed, grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him around “I think you should go get changed. _Now_.” He insisted, leaving Hiroki only somewhat insulted while he pushed Teddie in one of the doors.

“Idiots...” Morgana sighed as he waited for his chance to dart pass and into the next warehouse.

“Hey, I'm not an idiot!” Teddie called out through the quickly shutting door.

* * *

Lying back on his futon in a tiny room in the early hours of the evening, feet pressed up against the wall, Ren idly thumbed through the screen of his phone before it violently buzzed in his hand. Swiping right, he pulled it up to his ear with a sigh “Hey Ann. Bored as hell too?”

“_Tell me about it,”_ Came the slightly distorted voice of his favourite blonde _“Makoto's doing college stuff, Yusuke's doing art stuff, Futaba's doing tech stuff and our favourite rich girl delinquent pair are doing each other stuff.”_ she sighed.

“Each other stuff?” Ren repeated with a smirk.

“_Well... yeah... shut up,”_ Ann stumbled _“Look, everyone else is busy and I'm bored.”_

“Nice to know you guys only think of me when you're bored.”

“_God, were you always this much of a bitch?”_

“You love me for it.”

“_We do... and we do think of you. All the time,” _Ann sighed “_It's just... even without the pressure of fighting evil in people's brains, this year has been kicking our asses, so even if we want, it's harder to make time. Unless you wanna set up an online D&D group to force us all together two nights a week.”_

“I get it Ann. It's the same crap here, don't worry,” Ren reassured her “Who's running the D&D group?” he asked, curiosity getting to him.

“_Uh.... probably Makoto? She's like the only one out of all of us who can prepare stuff.”_ Ann suggested.

“Makoto would not run that for us. We'd ruin all her prep work so fast, like the minute Ryuji tries to do any social stuff: 'respect the guards so we don't get stabbed? Eff that!'” He joked, bursting out into uncontrollable chuckles at his own imagination.

“_And then there's Yusuke, who would ask all the annoying details about whatever the architecture or the statues, when we're trying to fight a dragon.”_ Ann added

“_**-It's symbolic-**_” Ren sang out before both of them burst out into laughter “I miss you guys so much.”

“Miss you too Joker,” Ann sighed back “So where's Mona? Haven't heard him beg to be put on the line yet.”

“Oh? He's uh...” Ren hesitated “Trying to break in to Junes.”

“_He's What!?”_ Ann snapped.

“Relax! We're not trying to rob the place.” Ren said defensively.

“_Well, good.”_ Ann said with a slight hint of disappointment.

“It's just they're jerks about not letting cats in so he's trying to find a way in he can use while I go in the main door. He's fine.”

* * *

Morgana was not fine, not by any stretch of the imagination. His heart was racing as he dived through the racks of clothes, pursuers in... well, hot pursuit. “Get back here!” The waddling mascot called, bulldozing his way through the clothing department in an attempt to catch that cat.

“You'll never take me alive!” Morgana meowed defiantly as shoppers scattered to let the blitzing ball of black fur past with little more than a comment as to how cute he was.

“Yes I will!” Teddie hissed as he tried to break into a sprint, only to take a step wrong and spill over onto the main concourse “...No I won't...” he groaned, trying to pick himself up, black cat long gone. It wasn't the most graceful of exits, but Morgana had escaped Junes and that mad mascot. The secret route strategy seemed to be a dud at this point, but at least he'd made it in once and caught a glimpse of the delicious treasures within, smelt the meat on the grill in the food court and seen a full isle of the grocery store dedicated to pre-prepared sushi, now he wanted more. This time no giant goon or overstuffed bear was going to stop him.


	4. Chapter 4

Saturday morning was here and Hiroki was already slinging on his security morning uniform when Yosuke delivered the bad news “Heyy, Ryuu-san, how's it going?” He began in the tell-tale nervous voice that was the harbinger of doom that the young man didn't want to be the harbinger for “About your shift today, well... I know it's really short notice since you told me you could do this shift and I thought I'd had it all ready but...”

“Officer Satonaka's outside, isn't she.” Hiroki deduced immediately.

“Please help me,” Yosuke said quickly “She knows you're using me to avoid her and she's super mad and knows where I live. This is police harassment man!” He squeaked in a blatant panic before letting out a deep sigh “Anyway, I've got to go talk with Teddie for running through the clothes rail chasing a cat so that's going to be _fun_.” He groaned as his shoulders slumped.

“So am I still on for this morning?” Hiroki asked.

“If you can get her to leave then yeah, do the shift but if she drags you out by the ear then we gotta just make do... jeez, it's like being shaken down by the Yakuza with her.”

Chuckling as he put on his uniform cap Hiroki walked calmly out of the door calling back “No it's not, trust me.” confident that he could deal with Chie, no matter how upset she'd gotten over the blatant avoidance attempt.

“Good luck Hiroki!” Yosuke called out before marching to find the already ashamed mascot and read out the Riot Act to his face.

Chie Satonaka was putting in her best effort to seem intimidating as she stood by the Employee's entrance. With a sharp glare, well-kept uniform and athletic physique it was no surprise that Yosuke had turned tail when faced with her, unfortunately for the brunette the effect was somewhat lost when it was combined with craning her neck up to look Hiroki in the eye “Can I help you Officer?” He asked, as innocently as possible.

“Don't you start with that innocent 'Can I help you' tone, Hiroki!” Chie snapped, pointing an accusing finger “You knew that physical training was in half an hour!”

“Physical training is part of your job Officer, like Saturday shifts are part of mine.” Hiroki explained calmly “I can understand your disapointment but-” he continued before a loud yell cut them both off.

“WHAT!?” Screamed Yosuke.

“Excuse me.” Hiroki said as he turned to see just what was causing the manager to ruin his vocal cords.

“I'll come too,” Chie added as the anger drained from her face, rushing back to where the yell had came from only to find a very enraged Yosuke yelling at a poor defenseless bear costume “Geez Yosuke, what did Teddie do?”

“Oh hey Chie,” Yosuke sighed as he realised just how loud he yelled “This idiot is trying to tell me that it wasn't just a cat that wandered in that he chased through every part of the store, _in costume_, it was a _talking_ cat that was trying to destroy everything and that I should be thankful that he only destroyed two racks worth of clothes.” The manager spat out.

“They were the clearance racks! I was being a very conscientious bear!” Teddie cried defensively.

“That's not the point!” Yosuke snapped back.

“Also you're not a bear,” Hiroki added on top, missing the quick look Chie gave him “And cats don't talk.”

“This one did!” Teddie insisted “He was all 'You'll never take me alive!' which is why I said 'Yes I will!' before I hit the railings. This wasn't your average cat.”

“Don't you have anti-wildlife stuff in here already? How'd a cat get up to the shops?” Chie asked, still stuck on stage one of the story

“How am I supposed to know? It's a cat! They do dumb things and wreck stuff.” Teddie whined, waving his stubby felt arms.

“Did it have a collar, maybe someone brought it in?” Chie suggested.

“It was a black cat with white fur feet and it had a yellow scarf around it's neck, that's how I saw it go for the sushi isle,” Teddie explained as Yosuke threw his hands up in despair, not wanting to entertain this train of thought “Does that help?”

“Wait, black fur with a yellow scarf, acting strangely intelligent for a cat?” Hiroki asked, suddenly very interested.

“Wait, isn't that the cat that one kid's always trying to sneak in?” Chie gasped

“Who cares about what the cat was, how it got there or who's it is!” Yosuke snapped “Hiroki, get to work. And Chie, don't you have more important things to do than talk about cats with the town idiot over here?”

“Oh crud, next week Hiroki!” She declared before sprinting off.

“Well that's one way to get out of that.” the big man sighed.

“See!” Teddie piped up “I wasn't just telling the truth, I was also helping Hiroki-san not get hurt.” He tried with a sudden smile, only for it to fall in the face of the still mad Yosuke.

* * *

“Are you sure that route's safe?” Ren whispered as he walked through the school gates.

“Absolutely sure, as long as we meet up outside the food court, no-one will suspect a thing.” Morgana meowed proudly from within his school bag, feeling that there was no-need to tell his friend about all the details, until overheard chatter did it for him.”

“Did you hear about the cat that got lost in Junes?”

“Aww, I missed a cat as well? How come all the important stuff happens during drama club?”

“I heard it was going to steal food from the grocery section but a mascot chased it all around.”

“No way, cat's aren't that smart to do that. It would've gotten into the food court kitchens first.”

“Mine knows what a Tuna tin looks like and it can break into the fridge, don't underestimate smart cats.”

“No-one will suspect a thing, huh?” Ren repeated with an exasperated sigh.

“Well... maybe I was a little un-subtle about it...” Morgana confessed, thankful that the bag was hiding his guilty face from the world.

“Let's just get this day done, then we can think about getting you some fish. But keep quiet or Nanako's pet-sitting you.” He promised as he swapped his trainers for school shoes, today was a long day and he didn't need Morgana complaining non-stop on top.

At least Gym was first thing today, so when everyone in the class was passed out by lunch time they had something to point to instead of a cry of 'Why isn't it Sunday yet' “Alright kids, we've planned something special today so gather 'round,” The instructor said in enthusiastic tones that were met with a sense of dread from the senior students in the locker room “I know you're supposed to be on rugby for the term but when a chance like this comes around you can't miss it.” He finished, waiting for someone to ask him what the chance actually was.

After a few nervous coughs in the awkward silence, what the chance actually was opened the doors to the gym and walked forth, looking like a statue of some classical god. The better class of classical gods at least, not the ones with tentacles or animal parts. He towered over all of the students and the regular teacher with a short-cut mess of spiky silver hair on his head, muscles bulging through the very tight tank top, an array of scars that criss-crossed his bare arms but did nothing to take away from his attractiveness “Hey, I got the bags all ready to go, so we're good to start.” He said, waving at the usual teacher as every student's jaw dropped.

“Aww you ruined it,” the gym teach groaned “Well so much for that surprise... Anyway! This is your sensei for the day, Mr. Sanada. He's been helping the local police with their training for a few weeks, but while he's in the area he thought he'd lend a hand in the community as well so he's going to give you a crash course in basic boxing! Great way to keep fit, taking boxing lessons, and no-one makes you do it out doors in the snow too. So say hello, class!”

“H-hello Sanada-sensei...” Came the chorus from the still stunned and staring students, some of the girls were blushing heavily the moment he'd walked in.

“Alright, that's enough introductions,” Akihiko declared “Team up into groups of three and we'll get started!”


	5. Chapter 5

The squeak of rubber soles on varnished wood reverberated throughout the gymnasium, backed by the melody of exhausted panting as Class 3B of Yasogami high moved from torture device to torture devise, rarely getting a moment to catch their breath before the shrill whistle demanded they moved on to the next. “When are we going to stop running and punch something...” was the oft repeated groan as they continued the circuit to the next 'warm up'.

“Okay class, you're doing great!” The muscle-bound blond cheered with the sincerity of the happily oblivious which, personality wise, made a pleasant change from the usual subdued sadism that sports teachers have as a general base line maliciousness, but the lesson itself was one of the most exhausting things Ren had ever done. And he'd fought shadows for hours in sprawling labyrinths. He could almost hear Morgana calling out to him from the changing room that he looked tired and shouldn't do anything else today “Aaaand time! How's that for a warm up? Gets the blood pumping real good, doesn't it?” The guest teacher asked the crowd of hunched over students, all way too exhausted for a glib remark about his training methods. Even when the Phantom Thief was keeping his nose clean the Police _still_ managed to make his life that much worse.

“Okay, that might have been a little too intense for high school students,” Akihiko Sanada confessed sheepishly as the ragged crew gathered round “But if it makes you feel any better, I've seen police departments do worse. Everyone finished without puking here!” He joked to no response beyond the continued gasping for breath.

“Anyway,” Akihiko began again after the not-quite-silence got too awkward even for him “I did get all the bags set up beforehand, so I should probably get to the part where you get to throw punches and how to do it properly.” the guest teacher began as Ren began to zone out, letting the basics of what the blond was saying wash over him and his body work on auto-pilot while his mind went to other things. Morgana was smarter than the average house cat, or so he liked to think, and the Phantom Thief knew that Mona could be subtle when he wanted to, so how was he found and chased out so quickly? Maybe once this was over he could ask the cat in the bag what really happened over lunch. Was he just getting stir crazy from the lack of other people to talk to?

“Sanada-Sensei?” Ren heard across the gym “How often is boxing used in the Police?” asked one of the girls who'd regained her breath long enough to go back to fawning over the scared but sculpted trainer.

“Well, officially not that much. Grappling techniques are more important than striking if it come to unarmed fighting in the force, usually with an aim to restrain someone as fast as possible. But throwing a well aimed punch has come in handy a couple of times. Keep your posture up, footwork's important here and that needs a proper stance.” Akihiko guided after a quick explanation.

“What about in a fight with a biker gang?” A different student added in.

“Biker gang?” Akihiko repeated “They still exist?”

“Year, there's this really mean one that-”

“Kids! Stop bothering the instructor and keep working on those punches!” The regular gym teacher butted in, cutting the discussion short and trying to retake control as Ren zoned back out, trying to remember if there had been any biker gangs before. He had the vague memory of the news going all crazy about them a long time ago but nothing seemed to come of it. Unfortunately for the raven haired delinquent, his auto-pilot had failed to get him out of danger in time. When the big blond had asked for a volunteer, everyone else had made their excuses or strategic step back. Leaving him the last one still working the bags and therefore the prime target to be volunteered, only realising his mistake too late.

“Crap.” He mumbled under his breath as he found himself the centre of the class, standing with his hands raised against the towering police trainer who managed to be more intimidating when he was holding up pads.

“...So every five punches the person with the gloves connects with on the pads, whoever's holding the targets should do a swing like this!” Akihiko explained as he swung his arm out high and wide. Even with the padding Ren knew that if that arm hit anywhere near his head he was probably going to go flying.

Phantom Thief instinct took hold, the thieves' eye showing the black haired boy the way out, all he had to do was duck under the now seemingly slow swinging girder of an arm, practically limboing underneath the limb as he twirled back behind the new target hand raised into what would be a finger-gun if not for the practice boxing gloves. The absurdity of the fake red leather snapping him back to reality, and how weird this probably looked to everyone.

The class was as stunned as the staff while Akihiko looked at the outstretched arm, expressions of confusion and maybe a little bit of excitement? Only for a moment though, just a flash of a smile from the boxer before he tried to play it off “Well, maybe not with the twirl, but I think all of you get the picture.” He dismissed, stepping back to take off his set of training pads before setting everyone up to continue the lesson.

“So how'd it go?” Morgana asked from within the bag after the class had finished, preparing himself for the stench of sweat from the gym clothes.

“Could've been worse,” Ren whispered back, trying not to notice the additional looks he was getting from his little performance. He'd gotten used to it by now, it was just another one on the pile of weird stuff that the kid who'd spent a year in both Tokyo and Jail could do “Talk at lunch. Serious times.”

“So...” Akihiko began as he and the regular teacher watched the various students leave the changing room in their groups “Who was-”

“Amamiya Ren,” the teacher groaned, shaking his head “Should have had someone else volunteer, sorry. If you're not used to teaching some of the troublemakers can get on top of you. He's had problems with the law before as well so, not the best kid to work one on one with a cop.”

“It's alright,” Akihiko smiled as he watched the black haired student struggle out with his overstuffed bag “New experiences are always worth something.”

* * *

The school roof was a semi-reliable quiet spot for lunch breaks, if Ren wanted too, he could have spent the rest of the day here gazing up into the verdant hills, but today he had business to deal with. “Phuh! Bleh! How do they still stink inside a plastic bag?” Morgana coughed as he popped out of the bag, grateful for the chance to get out in the fresh air “I think that stupid spray makes it worse too...” the black cat groaned, rolling onto his back and looking up at his partner in crime.

“Mona, what exactly happened in Junes?” He asked, ignoring the buzzing phone in his pocket.

“Nothing?” Morgana tried to say as naturally as possible, coming off as unnatural as anyone who ever tried to do that.

“Morgana,” Ren groaned, pulling off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose “Can you not mess around? They probably know it was you, so what happened?”

“Well...” The handkerchief collared cat shifted nervously “It started off okay, the goods entrance was open, I just had to jump on a clothes rail and ride in until...” he trailed off.

“Until...” Ren pressured.

“It was a moment of weakness!” Morgana cried “I went through the whole food court and not once did I stop at any table waiting for food, and the smells were so good but I fought it off! I just got to the grocery section and saw the packages... and then that stupid mascot saw me standing up against the window. It wasn't my fault, he shouldn't have been able to see anything in that dumb bear suit.” he whined.

“So the guy in the bear suit chased you out... and that's why everyone's talking about it.” Ren concluded with a sigh. Bang went the back door idea, now everyone was going to be alert for anything trying to sneak in from any direction, and that giant security guard probably recognized the cat too.

“Hey, I got away at least!” Morgana said defensively.

“Good to know that the apex of urban predators can outrun a guy in a heavy mascot costume.” the leader of the phantom thieves let out as he reached for his lunch box.

“It was an intense chase!” The cat continued, not noticing the extra sarcasm as he opened the box and grabbed the chopsticks “I was all 'you'll never take me alive!' and he was all 'yes I will!' then he crashed into the railings as I ran out the door laughing at him.”

Something in that sentence caused Ren to pause mid-rice lift and stare at the small cat. “When you said that the mascot was chasing you. Did he actually say that?”

“Well yeah, because I was...” Morgana trailed off as realisation dawned “T-that's... that's gotta be impossible, I must have imagined it!” the cat insisted as Ren stared into space. He knew something was up about the mascot chase. Why would the idiot in the suit not just call security to deal with the cat instead of doing it himself? Unless he thought no-one would believe him about a talking cat looking to steal sushi.

“No... we would have known if someone was in the metaverse...” he whispered, trying to make the thoughts form in his head before the rooftop door creaked open “Crap,” he hissed to Morgana “Hide!”

The trainer from the police had either decided to stick around or was putting every class through their paces. Either way he was up on the roof, his short blond hair, muscular arms and shark-like grin made him look like what Ryuji might turn into in ten years if he kept at the gym and his 'secret training' with his not-really-a-secret trainer. “Hey!” He called out, walking over to the lone student as Morgana tried to hide behind one of the air conditioning units.

“Afternoon, Officer.” Ren answered politely, feeling his shoulders instinctively stiffen up in the presence of authority.

“No need to be so formal,” Akihiko waved off as he sat down on the same bench as Ren “Good workout this morning, probably should have shaved a little of the intensity off, but hey. Can't know your limits if you don't push 'em right?” He asked as though they were gym buddies and not police officer and known delinquent.

“I guess?” Ren shrugged, quickly going back to his food to avoid an impromptu interrogation. It was a trick he'd developed when having family meals with the Niijimas. Be slow to eat, chew thoroughly but always make sure to have food in your mouth so no-one makes you talk. Especially when a wrong answer could have disastrous consequences.

“What was with that little spin towards the end? I mean it was impressive you got all that flashiness in by the time I turned around, but still. It's like you were about to pull a gun on me if you weren't wearing boxing gloves,” Akihiko asked only for Ren to point at his full cheeks “Oh, right. This is the only chance you get to eat. Probably shouldn't ask too much.” the boxer realised, earning an appreciative nod from the black haired student.

An awkward silence blossomed in between the two, Akihiko taking big swigs of some drink he had in a sports flask that smelt of artificial strawberries, Ren taking his sweet time with the small katsu cutlets, the big man constantly looking for an opportunity to start talking and ask questions again with the black haired student giving no such opportunity until the last grains of rice were snapped up. At this point Ren had a conundrum to deal with: he could just up and leave saying something about needing to head to the library but Morgana was lose on the rooftop and after yesterday's escapades, he doubted letting the cat run free was a good idea. Maybe he needed to go on the offensive here, metaphorically speaking “So... are you a detective or..?”

“Me? Please, I'm nowhere near smart enough to be a detective. Was lucky to get on the force to begin with considering the grades I got in school. And after school,” the boxer confessed with a chuckle “I'm officially a patrolman but I run a lot of the combat and physical training courses across the country, which is pretty great. Wish I was on the front lines more like Chie is, but I guess you gotta do what your good at to help out the most.” Akihiko mused, remembering how hard he had to cram for some of the entrance exams.

“Chie?” Ren asked, hoping that the more Akihiko spoke, the less he'd have to.

“Oh, right! Sorry, that's Officer Satonaka here. She works for the Inaba department, you've probably seen her: red hair, cute smile, unwavering determination for justice, kicks that could put a man through a building...” he explained to the increasingly raised eyebrows of the student sitting next to him, he sounded less like a cop describing another cop and more like someone describing a sunset stroll on the beach.

“Wait,” Ren interrupted. Curiosity getting the better of him “Did she ever actually kick someone through a building?”

“Well... no. But she might have if that wall wasn't re-enforced! I got lucky with that one, had my arms up in time and it still blasted me back.” Akihiko said with a self-satisfied smile that neatly contrasted the look of exasperated confusion on the face of the Phantom Thief.

“I think I need to go to the library. Study.” Ren said quickly, picking up his back and leaving both the crazy cop and his cat to fend for themselves while he headed towards somewhere more sane. What was with this town? First it was the giant security guard and now the cops can kick people through walls? Okay, perhaps there had been one shadow in mementos that had gotten it's ass kicked so hard it blasted open the tunnel behind it, but mind bending accomplishments of poise, speed and strength in the metaverse was one thing but something completely different in the real world.

“See ya! Keep up the good work!” the blond called out as he once again watched the Phantom Thief make his un-dramatic exit. Only this time to smack himself in the face once the door had closed behind him “Dammit, I meant to ask him if he wanted to help out! Argh...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a bit of a wait for this one. Kind of had a lot of stuff going on, but I'm still working on this Yakuza/Persona-verse. Hoping to at least finish something before the English translation of Royal/Scramble/Yakuza 7 comes out and screws over all the headcanons.


	6. Chapter 6

The warming light buzzed overhead as the two muscular men stooped over the hand-made doll representing a cartoon bird looking down with very serious expressions before looking up at each other. Hiroki Ryu was the first to break the silence “It's perfect, thank you.” The security guard bowed.

“Glad you liked it,” Kanji said, allowing himself a satisfied smile at his own work “The fluffy tummy was a bit of a challenge, lot of the craft store stuff will get shredded pretty quick and you need something that's gonna last.”

“Good, here's the card to go with it.” Hiroki nodded, handing over a red envelope to the blond, rigid and sealed..

“I'll get it sent out with the mail tomorrow. Your secret's safe with-” Kanji continued, raising his voice as the road seemed to get incredibly busy for this late at night on a week day “-the hell's going on out there?” He finished, giving up on his 'pleasure doing business' speech when the rumbling of tyres stopped shaking the walls, but the roar of engines never stopped.

“Delivery truck got lost?” Hiroki suggested “Maybe something bigger?”

“Nah... think there's more than one.” Kanji shot down as he put his ear to the door.

“Stay here, I'll check it out.” Hiroki said solemnly, reaching to slide the door open a crack and expecting the worst. No-one should have been able to track him down so quickly, not with everything he'd done to conceal himself. He had sent the occasional message to his family but he thought he'd been careful even then. Expecting to see suited goons looming in the Inaba streets, his brow instead rose in confusion as a bunch of somewhat-old bikers in brightly coloured leathers stood by their bikes, revving the engines threateningly.

“Hey you!” One, who had committed to wearing sunglasses at night yelled at Hiroki “Is this Tatsumi Textiles? We got a bone to pick.”

“Who's got something to pick with me!?” Kanji demanded, shoving Hiroki out of the way as he marched out to the street “Do you know what time it is, assholes? You missed business hours!”

“I knew it!” the loud biker declared, pointing at the blond.

“Knew what?” Hiroki asked, thoroughly confused as he looked between Kanji and the bikers.

“Wait, aren't you that..?” Kanji began, deep in thought as he tried to piece things together.

“We've been waiting years for this ya little punk! Payback for that one time you attacked us for no reason! Well guess what, there's more of us now and no stiff in a suit's gonna save you.”

“Oh yeah! You're the assholes who kept my mom up all night because you wanted to turn Inaba into a dirt track!” Kanji announced, pointing an accusing finger at the ringleader as Hiroki stepped alongside the artisan punk.

“You've been carrying a grudge against him for how long?” the big man asked, rolling his neck as he walked forward.

“These guys were pricks when I was a first year in high school, sent 'em packing then, I'll send 'em packing now.”

“Not this time!” The leader of the gang yelled defiantly, even if a slight crack crept into his voice as he held up a chain “This time you're gonna be in for a world of hurt, and don't even think of calling the cops because they'll just run away when they see how tough we are!”

Hiroki and Kanji shared a look at the incredulous but determined declaration of their doom, with a heavy sigh the security guard asked the younger man “So do you want any help with these guys or...”

“Couldn't hurt,” Kanji replied as though someone had offered him a cup of tea while he cracked his knuckles “Makes a change.”

After a year of hiding in Inaba, Hiroki couldn't help but smirk “Guess it does.” he admitted with a smile. It had been way too long since he'd been accosted by a bunch of goons with the survivability of a bunch of lemmings, the thought of kicking their asses was already bringing a soft feeling of nostalgia.

“Hey, stay back big man unless you wanna end up in the hospital!” The first of the bikers threatened as Hiroki approached him, only for all the bravado to be snapped away as the security guard yanked his motorcycle out from underneath him, sending him crashing to the pavement. A lesson in why protective gear is always important.

“What the heck?” Was all the ringleader got out before Kanji had grabbed him by the collar and, for lack of a more appropriate term, _yeeted_ him into another one, toppling over a series of bikes like skittles, trapping legs in the metal framework as the rest of the gang recoiled in horror as the two cut through what they had thought were tough-as-nails fighters like a hot knife through butter.

Hiroki swatted them down with the snatched motorcycle with a smile, holding back to only leave at worst a tyre print on their foreheads as he stacked the gang high, dropping the held bike at the last moment on top of the pile leaving him and Kanji to dust of their hands, job well done, as police sirens hailed the end of the brief fight.

“Oh hey Chie,” Kanji said casually as he turned towards the first responder to the commotion “Got it all under control, me and Hiroki here kicked their asses so hard they won't be able to sit down for a couple months.”

“Eh, you did most of the work Kanji, I was just backup.” Hiroki shrugged as the police officer reached for her handcuffs.

“Come on, you were swinging that bike around like it was nothing! You gotta teach me how to do that,” the blond said admiringly, beaming a smile at the security guard as he heard the click of handcuffs. A smile that was quickly removed as he realised just who the cuffs were on “Chie, what the hell!?” He let out before the red haired cop wrenched his arms behind his back.

“I should be asking 'What the hell' Kanji!” Officer Chie snapped as she pushed Kanji towards the patrol car, her bewildered partner unsure if he should be helping or asking why as Chie moved on to grab Hiroki by the wrist as well. “You too Hiroki. You've got no time to help train but you've got time for street fights, sheesh!”

“In our defence, they were making threats to both of us and they all had weapons.” Hiroki said as he forced himself to go with the police officer's demands, no point in making a bad situation worse while the pile of bikes and bodies groaned.

“Then all of you are heading down to the station then! No excuses!” She demanded as he was bundled into the back of the patrol car, cringing as the big man tried to fit in a back seat sized for someone two feet shorter.

Detective Dojima was somehow in a worse mood than Officer Satonaka, maybe it was because he was hoping to have finished his shift by now when a group of 15 was unceremoniously dumped at the station for processing. He was on his third cup of coffee since Kanji and Hiroki arrived and it was not doing him any favours “Kanji for the love of... I don't care who threatens you with what, you do not start giving people concussions! This is beyond self defence, dammit!”

“Look if a bunch of bikers show up outside my house, what am I supposed to do? Call the cops?” Kanji asked defensively as Hiroki cringed.

“YES!” Dojima snapped back.

“Oh... Well what if you couldn't make it in time and they'd gotten in?” Kanji tried again.

“That's a different matter entirely. But you didn't try and they didn't get past the pavement before you went vigilante on their asses. That's still assault, provoked or not.” Dojima yelled, pounding the table for effect when Date walked in.

“Detective,” he announced, nodding to Dojima “What's going on here?”

“Idiots picked a fight with a biker gang, the gang's getting looked at while I'm dealing with the two here. Guess Mr Ryu here picked up a few things in Tokyo that we'd rather not have in our quiet town.” Dojima growled.

“Right, right. Could I have a word about this case, outside?” The older detective asked.

“Now?”

“Yes, now,” Date insisted, giving a look of annoyance at Hiroki as he sat their silently “Honestly, thought you'd be smarter than this.” He sighed as both detectives walked out.

“So... what's the deal with you and that old guy?” Kanji asked as the detectives had their little chat.

“It's a long story, rather not talk about it.” Hiroki replied, motioning to the camera in the corner of the room.

“Oh... right. Sorry I asked.”

“It's alright. You of all people probably should-” He began before the detectives walked back in, Dojima a couple shades paler to boot.

“Alright. Given your... circumstances, you'll be doing some community service and we'll be leaving it at that.” Dojima said stoically.

“Don't we have to be sentenced for this sort of thing?” Kanji asked back.

“In this case, no. Unless you want this to be a full assault case, this is the end. You will be spending a couple hours over the next two weeks out in the woods, making sure nature's being preserved and no-one will be looking into this further. Are we clear?” Dojima asked with a serious glare as Hiroki pushed his arm across Kanji's chest. He had clearly got the message, even if Kanji hadn't.

“I'm sorry detective, this matter shouldn't happen again.” He said solemnly.

“It shouldn't have happened in the first place you idiot.” Date snapped back, a bite that Hiroki knew he had coming.

“We'll be calling you to let you know when and where to show up, it'll start next Sunday so make sure there's someone in the shop, Kanji. And as for you Hiroki, it looks like I'll be making Officer Satonaka's evening tonight. Saturday, nine sharp, get here for Physical Training.” Dojima announced, standing up to leave.

“Now both of you go back to your homes and think about what you've done,” Date added as he helped the two back on their feet and out of the station “Thanks to you we've got more than ten bikers to deal with and that's before you cost 'em a bunch of brain cells.” he sighed as he forced the two out onto the street.


	7. Chapter 7

Hiroki winced as Yosuke ran his eyes over the notice, signed and stamped by the Inaba local police force “Well... what can I say?” The young manager sighed “First time having to deal with this sort of stuff. Most of the time it's doctors notes, or faked doctors notes, not a note from a cop.”

“I'm very sorry to force this on you.” Hiroki apologized stiffly.

“It'll be fine. It's just a thing I've got to work around, a lot of the shop staff are way worse about attendance. This way I know in advance not to pencil you in for a couple weeks,” Yosuke brushed off “You weren't exactly in uniform when you were doing this and heck, we could spin it so you're even scarier when out on the door.” he suggested with a nervous smile.

“Please don't, I... I don't think it'd be a good idea,” Hiroki asked “I'd rather not have ...this... be too well known.”

“Okay, okay. Gotcha, sheesh! You'd think a little bit of excitement would do this place goo- actually, never mind. Last time this place got exciting wasn't good for anyone,” Yosuke mused “So that's Saturday morning done with... Sunday afternoon as well... we can put you back on the Saturday after-school shift. That looks free.”

“Probably not, they're having me help out with the physical training.” the big man sighed.

“Really?” Yosuke whined “Maaan, good freaking luck with that.”

“Tell me about it.” Hiroki grimaced.

“Look, it's the Saturday after school shift. We'll need every hand on deck in case we get another Teddie related cat incident. If you can't make it we'll just have to deal with it, but I'd rather have someone I know I can rely on to keep control out there. Even if it's just two hours when the rush hits.” The manager requested.

“I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises. They've no doubt got something in mind for me and I'm not as young as I used to be. Thank you for being so accommodating through this.” Hiroki bowed as he stood up.

“No problem, just make sure you yell at Kanji for me when you see him. This is seventy percent his fault.”

* * *

Getting changed for training was a trial in of itself as Hiroki tried to keep his back to the wall and conceal the dragon tattoo while various officers of the law chatted like locals at a bar “Good thing you're here Hiroki!” They would call, patting him on the shoulder as they passed “One more body between us and the red-headed demon.”

“I'm assuming you mean Officer Satonaka.” Hiroki replied with stiff seriousness as he struggled into the training T-shirt.

“You said it, jeez. I thought being out in the boonies would be relaxing but she's worse than the special response team instructors...”

“You never went on those courses!” Another officer piped up from across the locker room.

“I'm not wrong though, am I?” The initial officer called back.

“Speaking of special response instructors...”

“Oh hell no! I thought he'd pissed off back to Tokyo by now?”

“Nope, the Rabid Wolf's still hanging around.”

“Aww man, and I was hoping I wouldn't need an ambulance this week.”

“Who?” Hiroki asked, interjecting.

“Oh right, you probably don't know him. Akihiko Sanada. Boxing champ, Kirijo's boy toy and instructor from hell,” Came the response through a grimace “If Satonaka's bad, he's worse. Plus they've got a whole 'student and master' deal which is... I dunno what it is. Thought he was only in town to do the school tours?”

“So did I, some reason he came back yesterday evening.”

“Aww hell... he's really got something in store for us.” The officers bantered and groaned as Hiroki kept nervously silent, despite never meeting this Rabid Wolf, he had a pretty good idea why he'd come back. And he had a hunch that Chie was involved as well.

“Whoa!” Officer Chie Satonaka let out as the officers and Hiroki filed out into the gym “You're even bigger out of uniform,” She said, looking at the former Yakuza's exposed muscles as he awkwardly shifted around trying to blend in with the smaller police officers. “Okay let's get this started. We got circuit training to warm up with, then a bit of an assault course and then we move on to the fun stuff!” She announced, a gym teacher to a department of police that made a nervous high school class look downright enthusiastic. The groans were audible all the way to the captain's office.

“Do we have to?” Asked one of the older officers, someone who'd clearly thought that a sleepy town would mean a sleepy workload and not what felt like the combined focus of every personal trainer looking for work once the January resolutions had worn off.

“Yes!” Chie snapped as the room of grown men took a full step back from the young woman.

“Okay Chie, I think we can get started,” Came a happy response as Akihiko Sanada emerged from the shadows, his shirt already slung over his shoulder as his muscles gleamed from what was probably a pre-workout workout “This is supposed to be Inaba's finest here, so the lot of you should find a circuit like this no-problem. If a bunch of kids can do it no problem then you can to!” He announced, ignoring the uncomfortable fact that many of the aforementioned kids did have trouble keeping up with the relentless pace, only going back to whatever exercise they were on whenever they felt the watchful eye of a teacher upon them “Also hey, new recruit! Hope you're up for this.” He added towards Hiroki.

“Uhh, master? Hiroki's not a recruit, he's... well...” Chie began, indicating to Akihiko that this was supposed to be a private conversation while the rest turned towards the big man.

“Huh? How many guys? I mean he looks like he could... Wait, okay, Kanji was there too. That makes more sense.” The platinum blond never had the best sense of how quiet a whisper was supposed to be, nor how far sound travelled in a quiet gym. Everyone heard or at least got the gist of what the boxer was going on about, leaving Hiroki to cradle the bridge of his nose in frustration and embarrassment while some of the officers stopped and stared.

“What are you waiting for?” Hiroki barked, startling everyone surrounding him to attention “Get training!” and with that he personally took the lead, heading for the nearest set of mats to get started with some basic push-ups, hoping that by the time the shock wore off the rest of the force would be focused on the training and not giving him a hard time.

It was the most intense training that Hiroki had done in years, decades of drinking and smoking were finally starting to catch up and creep around the edges. Where adrenaline had gotten him through long, bloody drawn out brawls, now it was just his cardio and his will that was pushing him onward, and midway through the circuit the big man was really starting to feel the burn in his arms and legs. Old wounds started to feel fresh again as ligaments were put under strains they hadn't known since his arrival in Inaba, towards the end he was really starting to feel what being his age actually meant. And this was only the warm up.

“This is hell...” he grumbled to himself as he tried crawling under netting, knees demanding a finger be removed to compensate for the pain they suffered. He knew he didn't have much choice with the situation but it felt an awful lot like someone was taking advantage of his predicament to really put the boot in. Maybe it was because he'd ducked training from the week before, or maybe this was just the general wringer that Akihiko put everyone through no matter when he showed up.

“Okay guys, that was some good work! A lot of improvement since I saw everyone here last time.” Akihiko applauded, patting everyone he passed on the back as the collective group alternated between gasping for breath, chugging water bottles or pouring some down their sweat coated faces in an attempt to cool down for what the Wolf had in store for them next. Even Chie was taking the time to rest up and re-hydrate, and out on both the circuit and the course she had resembled a hybrid of human and energizer bunny.

“Okay, see you next season...” One of the more portly officers wheezed out, wishing to get back to his desk as soon as possible.

“Nah, we're just getting started! Get the mats and the gloves, time for some good old fashioned _mano to mano_ combat training.” Akihiko announced, mangling the unnecessary Spanish as the force sighed in resignation.

“So we'll start out with a few drills, just the basics to make sure everyone's still awake. Got it? Good. Start with some takedowns without exposing your back to an aggressor, so take turns swinging punches at the head and throwing the guy doing the punching, okay?” Chie instructed, taking her master's lead “Hiroki, you're with me, everyone else pair up!”

“Umm... Satonaka?” The big man began as he was led to a corner of the training mats, sidestepping the already practising officers “Are you sure this is a good idea? Wouldn't it be better for me to practice with someone more... my size?” He suggested, Chie wasn't a short woman but Hiroki towered over her more than anyone else in the room.

“I'll be fine!” She said with full confidence “Just take a swing at me and I'll do the rest.” she dared.

Taking a deep breath as he balled his fist, Hiroki hesitated before throwing what was probably the slowest punch he'd ever thrown at anyone. It barely qualified as a punch, it was more the slow moving hand that happened to be a fist and going in the vague direction of someone's head, that got wrenched behind his back as he was forced to eat a gym mat for his sins. “Come on! You call that a punch?” Chie taunted as she let him go.

“... I didn't know what the etiquette here was and didn't want to overdo it. I'm sorry.” Hiroki apologised, his face still half-embedded in the foam.

“Well it's rougher than that.” Chie huffed as Hiroki picked himself back up, her shoulders tensing up again as she prepared for him to take another go. This time, despite the hesitation, Hiroki did take a sluggish swing at the young woman, better than the first attempt and enough to knock someone on their ass if it did hit, but far slower than what he'd used on the poor unfortunate biker gang, let alone what he'd used when he felt his life had been on the line.

“Better?” He asked, trying to twist his head so his words weren't fully muffled by the mat as Chie stepped off him. The end result had been the same at least.

“Lot better, thanks!” She cheered.

Despite the difference in size, Chie was turning out to be a surprisingly good training partner. Slowly as they worked through their various techniques, Hiroki moved past his initial hesitation and reluctance to strike out at her. The young policewoman was more than capable at blocking, throwing or dodging around the bigger man before dumping him down to simulate an arrest, and she was also fine with being thrown around herself, popping straight back up even after being slammed on the mat with enough force that the noise made everyone turn their heads. “Don't expose your back so much on the throws, Hiroki,” She chided as she dusted herself off, reaching for her water bottle “Some people could have weapons anywhere so try and keep them where you can see them.”

Hiroki could only pant and nod in agreement as the training session seemed to draw to a close. It had been the most intense training he'd done in years but the ex-yakuza couldn't help but feel like he shouldn't have tried to put this off in the first place. It was good for him to get this sort of workout, even if it had felt like hell earlier, what was the harm in it now?

“Okay, some good hustle this time guys,” Akihiko applauded “Really seeing some improvement over last time, everybody's still standing for once!” he joked as the police force (minus Chie) grimaced at the memory “So since people have got some energy left, who's up for a spar?” He offered, Chie bouncing up and down with naked enthusiasm “Not you Chie, give someone else a chance for once.”

“Aww...” The redhead grumbled as she took a step back, thoroughly deflated.

“Anyone?” Akihiko asked as the rest of the force collectively took a brave step backwards “Really guys?” The platinum blond sighed, his shoulders slumping with disappointment “How old are you?”

With a resigned sigh, Hiroki took the step forward to volunteer as sacrifice while the others set up a stopwatch to time it. From what he'd seen from the police, how they'd whined about the training session, this probably wasn't going to be as bad as it sounded. And then Akihiko threw the first punch.

Instinct took over as Hiroki's hand shot up to grab the gloved fist, the force shooting up his arm on impact as the onlookers gasped in shock. Akihiko's face contorted in confusion as he pulled his extended arm out of the ex-Yakuza's grasp, a smile slowly spreading as he pieced together what happened “Don't.” he whispered to the younger fighter.

Either Akihiko ignored him or didn't understand as the man known to the police as the Rabid Wolf went to town, punches going every where as Hiroki was forced to defend against a relentless barrage of blows, the platinum blond trying to see where the weak point in the older man's guard was and blast through it, hitting home as a low jab buried its way into Hiroki's ribs, earning a wince of pain from the security guard and an instant retaliation.

Akihiko raised his arms to guard in time but the force from Hiroki's right fist sent him staggering back all the same, with an even wider grin as he regained his footing. The older man's eyes narrowed before he pulled back. “Time!” He called through a feigned wince, left hand quickly going to his right shoulder “Think I threw something out there...” he complained, stepping back as Akihiko's expression changed from a perverted joy to serious concern.

“Who's the first-aider here? Get an icepack!” The boxer ordered “Sorry about that, got a little carried away.”

“It happens...” Hiroki grunted, concealing the lack of swelling “I'm getting old.” He admitted as the first-aider returned with the blue bag, ice crunching inside.

“How the heck did you catch that fake punch?” One of the officers asked “I knew it was coming, and I still flinch every time he does it.”

“Fake punch?” Hiroki repeated.

“Yeah. Always that super fast punch to like five inches in front of your face. Scares the crap out of people... except you.” The first-aider explained as he pressed the ice onto Hiroki's shoulder.

“Guess I... got lucky.”

“Lucky? You hammered him! And that's after taking a shot. One punch from him left me winded for a week last month. Where'd you train before? Army?”

“Something like that...” Hiroki mumbled as Chie broke up the group.

“Alright, that's enough! Do some stretches or you're gonna hate the rest of the day!” She demanded.

* * *

The urban cat was the apex predator of the concrete jungle, the top of the food chain for all other wildlife to stay clear of, it was not going to be confined and perturbed by an oversized security guard and an idiot in a stupid mascot costume “I've got this, no problem.” Morgana meowed with confidence as he and Ren approached the Junes department store complex, clouds gathering in the distance as they cast a threatening shade of grey around the hills on the outskirts of town.

“Just be careful,” the leader of the phantom thieves cautioned, walking alongside the black furred feline with one eye on the cat and one eye on his phone, Ryuji had obviously had a lot of fun in Osaka and Futaba was for some reason asking if Morgana had set up a feral cat gang in the sleepy town of Inaba “We split up, get in, then you point out which mascot can hear you.”

“Easy, I just hang around calling people idiots and see who does something other than go 'aww, cute kitty' then I join back up with you!”

“Just make sure you don't do it too loudly, don't want security kicking us out because they heard a cat meowing loudly.” Ren whispered as he saw the doors leading to the entrance hall, and the suspicious lack of a known half-giant in front of them.

“I can be subtle,” Morgana declared with a confident feline grin, only noticing the lack of a quip back when he realised that Ren had stopped altogether “What's wrong?”

“Doesn't the big guy normally work Saturdays?” Ren asked, nodding towards the significantly smaller security guard stationed in front of the sliding doors, standing stiffly to attention.

“Maybe it's not his shift yet.” Morgana suggested as they ducked into a nearby alley to formalise his plans.

“Saturday after school and he's not here? It's like the biggest thing for kids to do and he's the only guy who can scare people. Beyond telling their mom what they were doing.” The black haired delinquent dismissed.

“So what happened?” the black cat asked.

“Who knows. Keep an eye out and stick to the plan.”


	8. Chapter 8

Morgana made himself comfortable in the shade of a potted plant as he sat down in the busy food court of Junes, trying to remain calm as the smells of all that cooking tried to tempt him from his little hidey-hole. Getting in had been a lot easier without the local giant guarding the entrance, but the Phantom Thieves' method of sneaking past the smaller replacement had, in Morgana's mind, left a lot to be desired.

“Pspspsps, Morgana~” Whispered their accomplice as she walked over with a smoothie in one hand and nothing for him in the other. If Nanako Dojima wanted to help out, she could at least bring him food! This was rule one for dealing with new cats when you can't understand them: if you've got food, bring shareable stuff! What did they teach kids like this out in the sticks? To only use dedicated pet food? Nonsense! Animals (and currently animal-shaped creations of the metaverse) had been eating people food for as long as people had, it was how tables were cleaned in the days before mass-produced disinfectant. Admittedly the detective's daughter had made things a lot easier, no-one would even think that she'd be smuggling in animals into the store, she even got a playful ruffle of her hair from the manager while Ren slid through undetected and undisturbed.

Speaking of the leader of the crew, he knew how to deal with an annoyed Mona, walking back with a take-out box of grilled chicken in one hand and a drink in the other “Everything alright?” he asked, grabbing a seat by the closest table and covertly placing the box down by the plant.

“Finally!” Morgana declared as he flipped open the closed box with ease, dragging the cardboard deeper into his impromptu lair, going so long in a place that stank of food without eating had been torture. All five minutes of it.

“Oh hi Ren!” Nanako let out cheerfully “Morgana's just been a little grumpy since we got in, I thought he'd be happy with how much you said he wanted to get in.”

“You try being cheerful when there's that stupid smell of fake strawberries.” Morgana grumbled as he tore into the chicken.

“Does your bag have one of those air fresheners? Maybe it's the smell of that... and he's hungry.” Ren suggested as he gave a glance around to see who else had discovered the chicken eating-cat.

“Oh shoot, I knew there was something I forgot to take out...” she sighed, taking a seat next to Ren.

“Relax, it would have been worse if it was in my bag. Still can't get the gym smell out for days,” He chuckled, bringing his own extra-stuffed bag up to the table “So do you want your stuff back?”

“Yes please,” Nanako nodded as the two began shuffling schoolbooks across the table, with Ren's bag now looking only moderately stuffed with study material “So what do you want to do now?”

“Huh?” Ren let out, his mouth mid-way to his straw.

“Well you spent so much time trying to get here, now what?” The detective's daughter asked innocently.

That was, annoyingly, a very good question, and one where the truth of 'Try and find the one mascot character who can talk to cats' wasn't going to be a very good answer. “I dunno, is there a... batting cage here?” There was one in Tokyo, he wasn't that good at it but heck, it was an idea.

“Um... I don't think so.” She answered, shaking her head.

“Cinema?” he suggested.

“I think that's being built in a few years.”

“So... there's just shops and a food court...” Ren groaned, after all the effort he'd put in to getting in Junes, he might as well have stuck to the high street. At least the mystery of the mascot gave this a little bit of purpose.

“And a Wi-Fi connection,” Nanako added helpfully “Plus, I tried eating at one of the vendors in the high street, I don't know how my bro managed to eat there, it was pretty gross.”

“Was that the Steak Croquette place?” He asked, trying to ignore Morgana retching at the memory. Some cooking ideas just couldn't be handed off for pets to deal with.

“Yeah...” she groaned in her own horrible recollection. So Junes had that over the high street, there was no general casual get-a-drink-and-sit-down places around Inaba. It just required people to have a local social circle bigger than a casual friend and a pet cat to make the most out of it.

“Well... okay,” Ren mumbled as the awkwardness of the situation started to take hold. He had to think of something to do while Morgana fulfilled the mission and tracked down the mascot “Hey, do you know anyone who works here?” He asked as the gears in his brain clicked into place.

“Oh, sure! Yosuke and Teddie have been here since I was little. Well Yosuke runs it and sometimes I don't think what Teddie does can be classed as 'working', but he's still great!” She said with a smile.

“Teddie as in... the mascot?” He asked as Morgana's ears pricked up

“No. I mean yes. I mean... both?” Nanako shrugged as she took a slurp.

“So he's a guy, assuming he's a guy, who's named Teddie... but works as a mascot called Teddie.”

“Yup, It's kinda weird... I think it was Yosuke who got the idea for the mascot costume and came up with a different name for it, but on his first day Teddie just used his name instead, and then it kinda stuck. Now it's awkward when he's out of costume since people think he's just being an idiot when he tries to use his name.” She explained with a sigh. It wasn't as if Teddy, no matter how much they all loved him, needed help in looking like an idiot. She hadn't even mentioned what happened the last time a cat got loose in Junes.

“Ouch,” Chuckled Ren “So is he working today?”

“Yup, they always have to pull Saturday afternoon shifts, I think he's over there as well... TEDDIE! OVER HERE!” She yelled suddenly, standing up and waving towards what at first glance was a moving cloud of balloons. Upon later inspection and a struggle to tie the big bunch to something secure enough, the clown-suited bear mascot emerged with it's trademark smile as it bounced over.

“Nanako-chan!” He let out as his big bear-feet skidded to a stop just before he collided with a table “You're free!” He declared as he leaned in to give Nanako a big hug.

“It's only school, Teddie, don't be that dramatic.” She dismissed, not that it stopped her hugging him back.

“Idiot.” Morgana said, his eyes narrowing as he focussed on the fuzzy costume.

“Huh?” Teddie let out, pulling away “Did someone say something?” He asked.

“Nope.” Ren said very quickly, shooting a quick glance at the concealed cat before trying to look relaxed again.

“What's wrong Teddie?” Asked Nanako.

“I thought I heard someone call me an idiot again...” Teddie whined as Nanako breathed a small sigh of relief. He hadn't heard Morgana meowing, it was just someone being a jerk. Although it did raise the question of how he heard something in that suit and she didn't. “Oh, Nanako-chan! You made a new friend?” He asked, suddenly realising Ren's presence.

“Uh... hey.” Ren mumbled, waving vaguely at the bear.

“Bear-y nice to meet you!” Teddie announced, waving back with much more enthusiasm.

“You get used to the puns.” Nanako whispered.

“As long as they're not contagious.” Ren whispered back.

“So, how long have you been together?” Teddie asked as the colour drained from both of their faces.

“Teddie!” Nanako yelped.

“No-no! It's nothing like that!” Ren furiously denied.

“Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure that's high-school relationships 101, deny all feelings until something really really bad happens.” Teddie persisted.

“Look, I'm taken,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves sighed as he tried to compose himself “I have a girlfriend. I'm committed. She's in college right now, but she's still my girlfriend.” He insisted.

“Sorry...” Somehow the cartoony face managed to look dejected.

“He's just a friend who helps me with my homework while I look after his... actually, Teddie? Can you keep a secret?” Nanako asked, changing topics quickly

“Sure I can!”

“Can you make sure we won't get in trouble for this?”

“Nanako-chan in trouble?” Teddie pondered, wondering just what the Investigation Team's sweet little sister could possibly do to get herself in trouble “No trouble at all.”

“Okay! Hold your hands out and close your eyes.”

“Wait, Nanako. He works here, this could get him fired.” Ren interjected as Nanako reached behind the potted plant to grab the suddenly very skittish Morgana while Teddie occupied himself by humming loudly.

“He'll be fine... although Morgana doesn't seem to like him...” Nanako dismissed as she scooped up the incredibly nervous cat and deposited him on the costume's front paws “Okay, open your eyes now Teddie!”

Teddie obediently opened his eyes, and then they went further still as he looked at the black cat in his arms, a yellow scarf around it's neck “Uh...” The costumed creature began.

“...Meow?” Morgana said nervously in response, Ren keeping his expression hidden behind his glasses as he rescued the cat from the bear's clutches.

“Okay, that's enough.” He said decisively, letting Morgana settle on his lap underneath the table

“I won't tell a single soul!” Teddie promised “I just thought it was the same cat that called me an idiot a few days ago.”

“...Cats can't talk Teddie.” Nanako pointed out.

“This one did! Not your one, but a cat definitely called me out... I got in big trouble for it.” Teddie admitted, looking very ashamed of himself as a shadow suddenly loomed overhead.

“That was because you crashed through two clothing rails.” Came the voice of Hiroki Ryu, looking slightly worse for wear in his security uniform. Not that it stopped him looking terrifying.

“Uh... h-hey Hiroki! Wow, look at the time, I better get back to work!” Teddie announced loudly, looking at his wrist as though he was wearing a watch over his costume “Hope the forced Police training wasn't too bad!” He called as he ran away.

“Great, tell the whole department store...” Hiroki groaned as he watched the bear flee the scene before turning back to Ren and Nanako “You two... just stay out of trouble.” he sighed before walking off to intimidate another set of youths.

“What's his problem?” Sighed Nanako as he left.

“You tell me, isn't he one of your dad's friends?” Ren asked, not wishing to elaborate on his past attempts at department store infiltration.

“Yeah but... dad's friends aren't my friends. So I don't know them.” she pointed out.

“Well, at least he didn't find Morgana,” the Phantom Thief sighed, resting his hands on his lap, and not the nervous ball of fur he was expecting “Morgana?” He repeated, scanning the food court for a sign of his cohort, a glimpse of black fur. Something!

“Where'd he go?” Nanako whispered.

“Not sure, probably got scared by the big guy,” Ren whispered back, trying to think where Morgana could have suddenly disappeared to “...the mission, crap.” he mumbled.

“Huh?” Nanako let out as Ren switched into high gear, grabbing both the discarded box on the floor and his own drink before sprinting away.

“Thanks for the drink I'll see you on Monday byeee!”


	9. Chapter 9

The mood had certainly dropped in Junes when Hiroki arrived but Yosuke wasn't about to start complaining about the sudden chill in the air as he sat back in his chair, after-school shifts in a growing town were always going to be a pain and despite his best efforts to support local business, the shopping centre swelled on Saturday afternoons and he needed a figure like his massive security guard to keep the peace.

The big man had been an ideal find, he was scary but unlike a lot of security workers who seemed to revel in the small amount of power they had over people, Hiroki was restrained in his actions and polite in his mannerisms. Until the whole deal with Kanji and the biker gang happened he had essentially a perfect record, unfortunately for the manager, that one incident was a big one, and it was starting to get him noticed by the wrong people. “Do you have a reason to be here officer? Or can I do my job in peace?” He sighed.

“What, can't I just say bye to an old friend before I leave town?” Akihiko asked, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned against the door frame, dressed in (thankfully fresh) workout attire, a low cut tank top and track pants.

“Knowing you, no,” Yosuke grimaced “So why are you hanging around here and not... I dunno... fighting bears in the woods?”

“Can't say, it's-” The police trainer began.

“Shadow Operative business...” The department store manager sighed “Could've guessed that already...”

“Sorry Hanamura, it's part of my job that I don't tell people what my job actually is,” Akihiko apologised, “I mean, I could tell you but then...”

“No way! I'm not getting mixed up in that crap again after the wringer you and Chie put me through.” Yosuke refused.

“It wasn't that intense.” The boxer justified.

“Yes it was! There's a reason that two of your agents are made of metal, and that's because it's the only thing that can stand up to that torture you call 'initiation'! I still don't get how the dog got in...”

“Hey, don't talk bad about Koromaru!” Akihiko snapped.

“I'm not talking bad about him, he's great, I'm just not sure how he got in!”

“Well... okay, a lot of the team got in before I got to start the initiation program.” the platinum-blond haired fighter confessed, earning a groan from the beleaguered manager while on screen, a black cat casually walked past in full view of the cameras.

“...So you made it up to torment us.”

“Chie made it through.”

“Yeah, well...” Yosuke stumbled, trying to find another retort that wasn't going to end up pointing out that of the members of the Investigation Team who did take up the challenge to become fully fledged Shadow Operatives (in addition to whatever they were doing otherwise) he was the only person to drop out of the training course Sanada had devised “Hope you didn't rough up my security guard the same way. We've got enough problems here.” He digressed.

“Security guard? oh! You mean Hiroki,” Akihiko said, brightening up considerably “Oh yeah, where did you find that guy?” he asked with disturbing levels of enthusiasm.

“Same place I found the last five, I asked Head Office to put out an ad, he applied for it and interviewed well so he got the job.” Yosuke shrugged.

“You know what I mean, giant guys don't pop out of nowhere.”

Scooting back in his chair, Yosuke looked the bigger man up and down “You know...” he began, pressing his fingers together “I really can't tell you that. Privacy's a big deal now so I can't reveal information about my employees to anyone.”

The boxer's eyes narrowed as Yosuke looked up at him with a small but smug grin beneath the stubble of an attempted moustache “Secret for a secret?” He asked.

“It's not like I don't know what you guys do anyway, so why not clue me into why you're sticking around?” the manager responded with open arms, his grin growing as Akihiko locked the door to his office behind him.

“Don't tell anyone, especially Chie this but Mitsuru's got me looking for recruits,” the Shadow Operative whispered into Yosuke's ear “There was a bunch of stuff that happened in Tokyo a year ago, I think, even Aegis was confused about it, so she thinks it's time to expand, get some fresh perspectives before looking into it.”

“Don't you guys have an army of goons for that sort of thing?”

“Not of persona users, which is why I'm here. Figured if there's anyone with potential they'd be around here first before checking Tokyo,” Akihiko answered before demanding his price, pulling back now that his side of the sensitive information was shared “Okay then, so what's the deal with Hiroki?”

“Hiroki Ryu...” Yosuke began “Is a retired real estate mogul from Tokyo, moved out here once he was happy with how much bank he'd made and took a job with us to give him something to do.” He explained in a matter of fact tone.

Akihiko's shoulders slumped with disappointment “That it?”

“Pretty much, yeah. What were you expecting?”

“The guy's huge! I blocked a punch in sparring and it still almost knocked me on my ass!”

“Yeah well, maybe he's just a training nut who got naturally lucky... or he did a lot of steroids when he was younger, I dunno.” Yosuke shrugged “We're not idiots here: except for Teddie who's a special case, we run background checks and get references and he came out squeaky clean. He's just a big dude who sold his property to live out in the sticks, he's got a Detective from Tokyo vouching for him. Other than him being big and rich enough that he never needed this job, there ain't much about him.”

Akihiko let out a dismissive noise as he fumbled the door lock, unable to shake the feeling that he'd been had by the brown haired manager “Fine,” he growled making how not-fine it was blatantly obvious “Just don't tell anyone about what I said.”

“My lips are sealed.” Yosuke promised as Akihiko left the office, giving him a wave goodbye before he disappeared from view.

* * *

Teddie was in a difficult situation as his paws bounced through Junes, the last of the balloons no longer in his hand. On the one hand: he was officially on duty, and Hiroki was back in a bad mood so he should probably be doing his job right now if he didn't want to be yelled at again. On the other hand, Nanako did ask him to this a secret from the world and upsetting her was probably going to feel way worse than whatever Yosuke or Hiroki did to him afterwards. In the land of Inaba, she outranked them both... or... well, her brother did but if she asked him for a pony he'd be at the nearest stables by the afternoon so Nanako _effectively_ outranked his boss.

And that's why he was following a cat into a secluded corner of the department store that stank of cigarettes.

“So...” The bear-suit began “Are you a talking cat?” He asked. At least if he had gone crazy no-one was around to see it.

“Nope.” Came the response.

“Well that clears that up- wait, what?!” Teddie half-yelped, desperately trying to keep his voice under control.

“Cat's can't talk.” Morgana pointed out.

“But you're talking!” Teddie protested.

“So that means I'm not really a cat.” The black cat finished with an unspoken 'duh'.

“Oh... I get it!” the mascot declared before confessing “I don't get it.”

Ignoring the big bear's difficulty, Morgana pushed on “And I don't get why you can hear me when no-one else can, have you ever been to Tokyo?” He asked.

“Nuh-uh,” the mascot answered “I don't leave Inaba much, let alone go to the big cities.”

“Hmm,” Morgana hummed in frustration, trying to think of what was causing the bizarre connection between the two strangers “Do you know what the Metaverse is?”

“The matter-what?” Teddie asked in return, big eyes comedically blinking.

“The place where it's all weird with shadows and made from humans minds?” He added, not expecting it to help much, but apparently this was what flicked on the lightbulb.

“Oh! Like the Midnight Channel?” Teddie answered enthusiastically.

Now it was Morgana's turn to look completely lost “The what?” He asked.

“Oh it's this...” He began, stopping himself when he realised a much simpler solution “I can show you, follow me! Just... try and stay stealthy. If Hiroki or Yosuke finds us we're in Beary big trouble.” The big bear explained as he turned to see if anyone was watching. He'd been working in Junes long enough to know the layout throughout countless reshuffles and had slacked off enough times to know which areas the cameras didn't cover. As long as they dodged the food court and the clothing section he was fairly sure that the cat and the bear could make their way into the upper floors undetected and towards the electronics section with its big screens still on display. “Watch this, then follow me in.”

“Follow you in where?” Morgana asked as Teddie pushed a paw into a gigantic flat screen TV, something that should have toppled the thing over, but instead the black screen seemed to turn into a pool of dark water at the walking bear costume's touch, allowing Teddie to push himself through and disappear into the depths. The black cat cautiously touched the screen, watching it as it rippled away from his paw, “Please don't be a trap...” he whined to himself before taking the plunge in, expecting the splutter his way through a veil of water only to fall straight down.

“...You okay there?” Came the seriously concerned voice of Teddie as Morgana's eyes slowly opened.

“Ugh...” he groaned “Why didn't you tell me it was so far down...”

“Uh... I uh...” Teddie stammered “I guess if you've done it before the landing's not as bad?” he suggested as Morgana staggered up to his feet.

“I hadn't done it before! I could have been seriously hurt you jerk!” He yelled, pointing his finger at the bear before he realised something very important “My... I didn't think this could happen any more...” he whispered as he looked at himself, finding his own reflection in a stack of old televisions. The cat form was replaced with the cartoonish appearance of the palaces, resembling a mascot closer to Teddie than any normal cat “Does that mean I can..?” he immediately wondered, rushing out to the centre of the platform that he'd dropped on and concentrated hard, pulling on his mask “Hhuuurgh..!”

“Whoa! What are you trying?” Teddie asked as he staggered back on his paws before the cartoon cat yelled out into the fog.

“Purrsona!!” He called, as an overly muscular swordsman with the physique of a Give Way sign dressed in black appeared in a swirl of Blue energy behind him “Zorro? But that shouldn't be... arg this isn't making any sense. But if I'm in this form then maybe I can...” He pondered, only realising that Teddie was still watching him with wide eyes.

“Wow! To think that the four-footed menace of Junes was another Persona user.” The big bear declared.

“Another? You mean you can do it too?” Morgana asked “So is the bear outfit the real you the same way this is me?”

“I think so,” Teddie nodded “I never really figured out what that meant, but there's nothing but bear goodness in here.” he said, patting his chest with confidence.

“So that's why you're the only one who can understand me!” Morgana purred.

“And I wasn't going crazy! Hooray!” Teddie cheered.

“I gotta tell Joker about this place,” The cartoon cat beamed “Now how do we get out?”

“Same way as before, just follow me!”

* * *

Ren was starting to really worry about where Morgana had gone, he'd checked the usual places he could expect to find the wandering cat: anywhere selling food, and came out empty-handed “Where is he...” he whispered to himself. He couldn't exactly go to security and say 'Hello I lost my cat' without risking getting booted out again, but at the same time the lack of general chaos was giving him very few options. It wasn't as though he could follow the commotion and scoop the inevitably running cat up with his bag, even that mascot had disappeared to somewhere he couldn't find! “This has got to be the second worst infiltration of all time.” He groaned before the crackly voice of a PA system announcement broke his train of thought.

_“Can Amamiya Ren please come to customer services on the second floor, Amamiya Ren to customer services on the second floor.”_ dinged the announcement as he took off running again, only the teachers and students knew his name, the first time Junes' giant security guard tried to chuck him out he called himself 'Akira' which meant...

“Morgana!” He panted as he saw the cat sitting happily on the desk, not a care in the world as the Blue bear with the red suit waved at him “What. The. Heck.”

“He's fine,” Teddie waved off “Mona-chan just wanted you to see the Midnight Channel too!”

“The what?” Ren asked, taking deep breaths.

“Like the metaverse, but in a TV.” Morgana explained.

“It's gonna be easier to show me, isn't it.” The leader of the Phantom thieves sighed.

“Probably, besides: it's gonna be easier to talk in there.” Morgana admitted, shrugging the best his little cat legs would allow.

“It's a Beary secret place, It's also perfect for taking unauthorised breaks.” Teddie added with a smile.

Ren was left staring blankly at the bear and cat duo “How much did I miss?” He wondered before a sudden yell interrupted everything.

“TEDDIE!” The Junes manager yelled out, giving Morgana ample warning to hide back in the leader's backpack while he skidded into view, with a look of pure panic on his face, only straightening up when he saw that he was with a potential customer “Excuse me,” he panted before turning back to the mascot “Teddie, all paws, loading bay, now.”

“B-but-” The mascot stammered.

“Yes that means you!” Yosuke insisted, reaching out to grab the bear by the ear.

“Ow-ow-ow!” Teddie yelped as he was unceremoniously dragged away from the desk and into the nearest lift.

“The heck was that about?” Ren asked the cat in the bag.

“Dunno,” Morgana admitted, trying not to let the books press into him too badly “Anyway, head to the electronics department. This is gonna be really cool.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Choose your favourite flavour of fight music, you'll know when to hit play (I personally suggest Ryu ga Gotoku 7 OST - Receive You ~Dragon of Dojima Ver.)

As the security guard attempted to put a brave face on things he could tell that today was getting to him by the way people seemed to recoil from his scowl more than usual, the message on the shop floor was loud and clear: Hiroki Ryu has had enough of today, do not bother him. He wasn't exactly sure why he felt so done with everything, it wasn't as though he felt that tired doing a Saturday work shift after the police training with just enough time to grab a snack and a shower in between, but something had managed to crawl its way under the big man's skin and wasn't getting out. Maybe he _was_ tired, but had hit that weird peak of energy in the usual drain where it was possible to become both hyper alert and in dire need of sleep at the same time without coffee to boost one and take the edge off the latter.

Either way, whatever the cause the former Yakuza was not in the mood to start hunting down slackers like Teddie at this hour, even if the mascot had left his post _again_ in the short space of time since he'd chased him back there, the big man was heading back into the employees area and straight to the manager's office. Maybe he could bring the blue bear back into line.

“Hanamura-san?” He asked, knocking on the open door frame.

“Oh hey Ryu,” Yosuke answered, turning his head away from the monitor “Everything okay out there?” he asked.

“Things are fine,” Hiroki said, trying not to scowl as hard as he had been “I just can't find Teddie, he's left the balloon spot again.”

“Again?” the manager groaned as he swivelled back to the computer, trying to switch from his emails to the security footage “Where'd he go the first time?”

“He was just talking in the food court with Detective Dojima's daughter,” the security guard explained “Shouldn't have to remind him about staying on task, didn't even give her a balloon as an excuse.”

“Oh, Nanako-chan was here?” Yosuke asked, taking the news that Teddie was slacking off a lot better than Hiroki expected “Well... he should know better but- eh, it's a long story,” the brown hair manager waved off “Where's he gone this time?”

“Don't know, that's why I asked if you saw him on the cameras.”

“Hmm...” The manager clicked through “He's not in the pet section... nor on the massage chairs...”

“Was a bit of a long shot...” Hiroki admitted.

“Wait! I think I see something...” Yosuke interrupted, holding up his hand as the camera panned across the electronics section, one screen rippling slightly “... Really Teddie? God... I know where he's gone, I'll go grab him.” He sighed.

“Don't you want me to do it?” the big man asked.

“Nah, he's in the hiding spot I used when I was younger, you might be...” the manager began, picking his words carefully “...A little too big to squeeze in.”

“And he got in a hiding spot in that costume?” Hiroki asked.

“Probably ditched it where the cameras can't see,” Yosuke suggested “Besides, you look like you've had enough for the week.”

“...Is it that obvious?” the security guard winced as his massive shoulders slumped.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Yosuke confessed, throwing his hands up in defeat “It's my fault, I shouldn't have pressured you into work.”

“It's not a problem, you have your own responsibilities to think of.” Hiroki dismissed.

“And right now one of 'em is making sure the staff's okay. I don't want people getting burned out too bad, its both bad for business and an assholish thing to do, so if you need to take the rest of the day off, you do it now. I'll keep a close eye on the floor.” Yosuke instructed.

Hiroki looked as if he wanted to refuse reflexively, muscles tensing before the big man let out a gigantic sigh “Thanks.” he said as he took the security cap off his head straight away.

“Don't worry about it,” Yosuke dismissed, rising out of his chair to pat Hiroki on the back and trying not to mention the swarms of questions he was going to get from customers and staff alike the moment he stepped onto the floor, no need to make the big man feel worse about his own well being “It'll be fine.” he said as the two men went their separate ways.

Truth be told, despite Teddie managing to sneak away during the busiest afternoon of the week, things weren't going too badly. People were behaving themselves, there was the odd request for directions that Yosuke was happy to help with, the rare complaint from a worker wondering if the offer to go home early extended to them, and the occasional old lady who needed help moving purchased furniture into their car. Even the mascot being AWOL wasn't too out of the ordinary, it just meant that for every time Yosuke got distracted with helping out someone who was actually working and Teddie _still_ hadn't resurfaced he'd just be in even bigger trouble when he caught up with him. Distractions like an employee practically sprinting towards the manager as he walked the corridors. “Whoa! What's the rush?”

“S-sir!” The employee panicked “It's that guy! In the loading bay!”

“What guy?” Yosuke asked, trying to pull himself and the hapless employee out of earshot from any customers, not the easiest job.

“The cop guy in the tank top who was hanging around here earlier!”

“Akihiko? Crap...” Yosuke groaned as he reached into his pocket, digging out his phone “What's he done? This gonna be a first aid job?”

* * *

Akihiko Sanada had been resting against the wall for a while now, flashing his badge whenever one of the warehouse workers started getting suspicious of the muscled blond loitering around. If a member of the police was hanging around then he must have had a reason for it, right? Well, he had a reason if not a particularly good one, and as he pulled away from his resting spot, shaking off any dust from the brickwork, he spied his reason.

Hiroki Ryu was walking out of Junes, dressed in a loose shirt with no jacket when he saw the grinning police trainer around the corner. A smile he'd seen all too often “What do you want?” He asked before adding “Officer.” after a beat.

Akihiko rolled his shoulders when the bigger man approached him, grinning wildly as he stood up “Actually Hiroki, I was wondering if you could help me with something since your shoulder's okay now,” the boxer began “If you'd like to follow me.” he said as he walked around the corner. With a deep but resigned sigh Hiroki followed him into a nearby alley, already certain of where this conversation was going to go. “See, this morning gave me a bit of an itch, and considering what you did to that motorcycle gang...” Akihiko explained as he pulled out a pair of lightly padded MMA gloves, slipping them on as he turned to face Hiroki.

Hiroki scowled as he watched the boxer strap on the gloves “I'm in enough trouble with the police already, Sanada,” he explained “There's no way I'm about to make things worse and get into a brawl with an officer. Find someone else to scratch that itch.”

“That's just the thing,” the boxer began again “I'm a cop, and that means the rest of the force doesn't have to get involved.”

“What are you implying?”

“I'm not going to be a sore loser or a mean winner and slap the cuffs on afterwards, I just want to see how I measure up, win or lose,” Akihiko explained “Besides, with how casually you dealt with those bikers I'd thought you might like a challenge you could really sink your teeth into, without a crowd or consequences,” he offered “Because I sure as hell do.”

It was a tempting off for sure, and Hiroki knew he needed the stress relief right now “How much do you know about me?” He asked, rolling his sleeves up as he and Akihiko circled each other.

“Not nearly as much as I'd like to.” The boxer chuckled, settling down into a loose stance.

“Good.” Hiroki nodded, balling his hands into fists

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Let's do this!” They both yelled, charging forward to see who would strike the first blow.

**-~-~-~-~-~-**

**SHADOW OPERATIVE OFFICER**

**AKIHIKO SANADA**

**-~-~-~-~-~-**

Akihiko weaved his way up close, letting Hiroki's haymaker slip past his ear as he sent a counter jab into the face of the security guard and ducking back out when a hook came sailing towards his ribs. “Didn't even faze you...” the blond whistled in awe as he popped out of his guard to express his admiration, fighting the security guard was like hitting a wrecking ball: it wasn't enough that he was so solid that the boxer risked breaking his hand on his face, but every time he did manage to get a decent shot in it would swing back and threaten to level the boxer. That strength and speed had caught Akihiko off guard this morning, but now he was ready for it, hunting for holes in Hiroki's defence to chip away at the bigger man, keeping on as much pressure as he kept his footwork as tidy as possible on the rough surface of the alley.

Hiroki was used to being swarmed in a fight, but that was usually against foes who'd brought over a bus-load of their friends/minions to do the vast majority of the dirty work, not one man seeming to be everywhere at once. Much like their short spar in the gym, the boxer was trying to pick apart Hiroki, never fully committing to an assault for fear of being unable to avoid the next retaliatory strike, but this time the security guard was under very little obligation to fight like it was just a clean boxing match. When Akihiko dived in again it wouldn't be a punch that would rise to meet him, but a knee shooting up and slamming into the police trainer's chiselled abs “Still want that itch scratched?” Hiroki asked as he shoved the now spluttering boxer backwards, letting him stumble before re-finding his footing.

Wiping away the spittle from his mouth, the wild grin returned to Akihiko's face “Starting to feel better already.” He chuckled before diving into the fray, this time aiming for Hiroki's head with a dashing straight, his fist digging into the raised forearms of the security guard, only for the boxer to keep moving forward, using his own fist as a pivot as he twisted his arm round to slam his elbow into the side of Hiroki's skull, snapping the big man's head to the side before he followed up with a left hand uppercut sailing in underneath the now loosened guard.

Hiroki's head was sent back and forth, but the security guard didn't even stagger back from the blows as his now sailing arms came straight back down, trying to use his forearms to hammer the police trainer into the ground, only for the boxer to dodge out of the way and retaliate with a punishing blow below the bigger man's ribcage, this time forcing a legitimate wince out of the bigger man. “Not bad.” Hiroki groaned as he backed into a wall, still beckoning Akihiko to bring it on. Not that he needed the encouragement.

Akihiko's punches tore into Hiroki like a wolverine as he rammed one shoulder into the bigger man's chest while his free hand laid into him, trying to keep the security guard pinned up against the wall before the big man managed to grab him by the back of his tank top and spin him into the wall instead. It was all he could do to keep his guard as low as possible while Hiroki sent punch after punch towards his body, arms going numb as knuckles tried to batter their way through, all the difficulty of being pinned up against the ropes but with none of the spring to soak up the worst of the blows. There was only one thing for it as Hiroki leaned in to dish out more punishment, and that was to swing his own head forward, wincing as their foreheads collided, but it was enough to get the space away from the security guard he wanted, even if it was just another thing to add onto the list of everything that was going to hurt in the morning.

Breathing heavily with blood dripping down from his nose onto his already red shirt, Hiroki tried to focus on Akihiko as the two stood apart once again, watching him try to ignore the pain in his ribs as he postured back up, fire burning in his eyes as he charged back in, all subtlety and precise footwork out the window as he loaded up a hook that would knock out an enraged grizzly. Too bad for the boxer that he wasn't the only one who could put down charging beasts, in the split second it took for the distance to be closed Hiroki put his whole body into one devastating punch, slamming into Akihiko's chest as the police trainer's own fist was barely a millimetre away from driving into the guard's eye, the fabled _**Tiger Drop**_ sent him flying back, landing flat on the ground.

“N-not bad...” Akihiko groaned, trying and failing to get back up under his own steam “Guess this is why people say 'be careful what you wish for', huh?”

“Pretty much.” Hiroki grunted as the adrenaline faded from his muscles and all the various aches and pains that had been put on hold suddenly demanded attention, causing the big man to start limping forward towards the fallen boxer before his vision came over all blue.

“Super special saviour suicide Teddie attack!” A certain blue mascot declared as he leapt at the security guard giving him a face full of blue fuzz as he started to topple over, only to be saved from a nasty impact on the ground at the last moment.

“I gotcha!” Kanji grunted as he managed to get his hands underneath both Hiroki and Teddie, allowing the mascot to roll away and let Hiroki see both Chie and Yosuke pulling Akihiko up to his feet.

“I'm fine,” Akihiko coughed despite all evidence to the contrary “Just got a little carried away with Hiroki here.”

“The hell you are,” Yosuke scolded “Couldn't even find a place a mile from my god damn store before you start something.”

“Seriously,” Chie nodded along, scowling as well “You're making me agree with Yosuke of all people!”

“Exactly, that's how much you screwed up. We never agree on anything!”

“You okay?” Kanji asked, ignoring the bickering on the other side of the alley.

“I'll be fine, just need a tissue for my nose and a shower.” Hiroki grunted.

“Cool, I'll drive ya home if you want, less people looking,” the blond offered “'S'pose it was only a matter of time before you two threw down if he was around.”

“Hey Hiroki!” Akihiko called out before the security guard could ask what Kanji meant “Next time I'm in Inaba, round two, okay?” He challenged as Chie helped him limp away into a squad car.

“Sorry about that,” Yosuke sighed “I should have warned you that he was lurking around.”

“You all know him then? Not just Satonaka?” Hiroki asked as he dusted himself off.

“It's a long story. Believe it or not, he's actually mellowed out in the years since we first met him.”

“Oh god, yeah.” Kanji groaned with recollection.

“He was even scarier back then.” Teddie agreed.

“And speaking of scary...” Yosuke digressed, grabbing the mascot by the fuzzy ear “You have to tell me why you thought it was cool to ditch work without asking!”

“Eep!” Teddie yelped as he was dragged back to Junes, leaving Kanji to help Hiroki get home so he could potentially enjoy the rest of his time off.


	11. Chapter 11

Cutting through the yellow mist, Amamiya Ren flew down from the portal and landed gracefully on the platform below, his school uniform barely ruffled at all from the flight as a black and white mascot landed right next to him with a bounce “Ugh, I've got to get used to landing on two feet again.” Morgana groaned as he shook himself off, struggling back onto his tiny legs while Ren looked on with awe.

“Wow.” He breathed, mind racing as he saw Morgana's Phantom Thief form stand up. This was supposed to be impossible, yet here he was: the guardian angel of humanity was back and as ridiculous as ever.

“Told you it was cool!” Morgana cheered “That's why Teddie could hear me, it's like a mini-metaverse in here.” He said as he hopped towards the purple railings overlooking the sea of fog, disused cameras hanging in thin air.

“So what is this place?” Ren asked as he peered over, unable to see anything below. Yellow fog seemed to blend with the distortions straight from an old TV “Some kind of Palace?”

“It's like a mini-metaverse,” Morgana tried to explain “Only different.”

“So, it's not the metaverse.” Ren quipped as he turned to the tiny cartoon cat.

Morgana scowled “I'm getting to that!” He growled “This place had shadows, but it needs people to be actively inside it before it starts making palaces, like, the actual person has to be in here like we are.” The cat explained with a confident smile. It had been a while since he'd gotten to explain anything like this.

“Right, right...” the Phantom Thief nodded along as he pushed himself away from the railing, seemingly lost in deep thought.

“That's why there's nothing here but this platform and the railing. Persona users don't create their own palaces because their shadows are already part of their Personas and no non-persona users have been here for ages, so all the old Palaces have faded away by-” The cat rambled on with his eyes closed, reciting what Teddie had told him only to open his eyes to see empty space “-Hey!” Morgana whined “Are you even listening? I'm trying to explain very important stuff here!”

Ren had walked away, phone in hand during the whole explanation “Sorry Mona,” he sighed, not even bothering to turn around as he stared at the little accessories he had collected throughout his time in Tokyo. Most of them were little key-chains he'd brought somewhere or another, but right now one was sticking out to him. A small blue key shaped for an old jail cell rather than a modern door, light as a piece of cloth, and it was faintly glowing in the yellow air. “So this means...” he thought out loud as the glow shifted away from the key and towards one side of the platform. What was a small spark grew as it flew further away, slamming into the metal railing with the sound of shattering glass before spreading out in a bright white flash, settling down into a cool blue glow of an ornate door.

With a rusty creak the door opened in front of Ren, his smile grew as he looked into the blue smoke that rushed out while Morgana rushed over to see “Is... is this?” The mascot asked in awe.

“Hope so.” The leader smirked as he stepped in to the dark room, hearing the sounds of chains and bars clink around him as he found himself in a strange, yet familiar, room. The room resembled a circular prison surrounding a single wooden desk, although all the prison bar doors were left open and all the prison beds had been upgraded with blue duvets and thick mattresses. Sitting at the desk were an old man with an extremely long nose writing with a quill, and sitting next to him was a young platinum blonde girl in a blue dress and a black headband adorned with silver butterfly wings by the ears. She was the first one to notice Ren and Morgana's appearance, gasping as she pulled on the man's sleeve for attention.

“Ah, it has been a long time,” The long nosed man at the desk began, pulling up from whatever note he was writing “Truth be told I did not expect to see you, at least, not this soon. Well then, welcome back to the Velvet Room.”

“You've redecorated Igor.” Ren quipped as he looked across the Velvet Room, golden ribbons were now interwoven into the chains.

“I've done no such thing, the Velvet room is an aspect of your own mind. Hence why it may change as you go through new experiences,” Igor explained, clasping his hands together “Beyond that, the influence of the imposter has faded so perhaps this is the true vision after all. There are things that are a mystery even to myself.”

“Nice to see you too Lavenza.” He said, taking in what he could from Igor's speech before focusing on the small assistant.

Lavenza gave a nervous smile as she shuffled awkwardly in her chair, looking up at Igor as if she was about to ask for something before the smiling man brushed the inkwell off the desk and on to the floor “Oh dear,” announced Igor “It seems I will have to distract myself while restoring order to my desk. I do hope nothing happens in the... oh, minute it will take me to rectify this.” He declared melodramatically, giving the Attendant all the time to sprint off her chair and charge down the Phantom Thief, locking her arms around Ren as she glomped him into the bed.

“I missed you, Trickster.” She sighed as the Phantom Thief wrapped an arm around her, gently holding on as his smile softened from that of a smirking rogue to one of an older brother at a family reunion.

“Missed you too,” Ren said softly, trying not to wince from the occasional squeeze by the extremely powerful, if tiny girl.

“I missed you as well Lady Lavenza,” Morgana purred, resting his head next to hers.

“And you as well, our Greatest Messenger!” Lavenza cooed, releasing her grip on Ren and turning her focus to Morgana, spinning the mascot around like a doll as she hugged him tightly before setting him down on the spare chair opposite the desk and tickling him under the chin as the mascot cat purred in satisfaction.

“Ah, issue resolved,” Igor announced from behind the desk, rising to see all three of them as he'd left them, even if Morgana was trying to re-adjust his mask “I trust nothing inappropriate happened.”

“Nope, nothing at all.” Ren said, shaking his head as Lavenza couldn't help but giggle.

“Good,” Igor nodded “Now, how can I be of service?” he asked “You've arrived before I needed to call you, a very fortunate thing.”

“Before you needed to..?” Ren repeated “Does that mean there's going to be danger in the future?”

“The future always appears to be dangerous, full of hazards unseen yet it can also be full of the wonder of discovery...” Igor droned on as a blue butterfly flew into the room, landing on the parchment that Igor had been writing on “...but in this instance, there may be a more direct challenge.” He admitted, his normally bulging eyes looking nervously at the bug.

“Nothing in the Velvet Room happens without reason,” Lavenza began as she pulled an oversized tome out of thin air “Perhaps this was fate. A way to make sure that whatever happens you are prepared,” she said, flipping through the pages before pressing her finger down on one specific instance, barely a millimetre through the door stopper of a book “As such, I think it is fair that we waive the usual fee.” The attendant declared as the image of a mask rose up above her.

* * *

If falling in to the TV was a strange experience, so was falling out. Only this time there wasn't enough air time to do anything other than faceplant on the shop floor and that was hard to do gracefully. “Umph!” Ren groaned on impact before Morgana made it worse by landing in between his shoulder blades and then purposefully not moving. “Morgana... please move.” He requested.

“Uh... about that.” The cat mumbled as he looked up at who managed to see them jump out of the TV, and the big shadows they created.

“I'm Bear-y sorry Morgana!” Teddie squeaked, barely able to cover his fuzzy ears “I didn't want to talk but he forced me to spill the beans, it was horrible! He was gonna cut my pay to shreds over it. To shreds!”

“Alright,” Groaned Yosuke as he stood next to the mascot with an expression that read: I don't even have enough energy left to be sick of your shit today “Can you two come with us or am I gonna have to call security?” He asked “Yes, I'm including the damn cat.”

With a resigned sigh, Ren and Morgana were led through the employee only area and in to the manager's office, sitting down with Teddie in front of the desk as Yosuke collapsed into his office chair, looking at the student and cat expectantly “Sorry,” Ren began “I didn't realise the TV world was for staff only.”

“That's not the- It's not for- _**arrrrgh**_!” Yosuke let out before rounding on the mascot “Teddie, what the hell!? You know how dangerous the Midnight Channel is, what if they couldn't get back out?”

“I was with Morgana the first time and he... he was able to summon a Persona so they were pretty safe.” Teddie explained, looking at his paws instead of the angry manager.

“Wait, does that mean-” Ren jumped in.

“Yeah,” Yosuke sighed “I'm a Persona user too. A few people 'round here are.” He said, scratching the back of his head

“So does that mean you could hear me as well?” Morgana asked, putting his paws on the table.

The manager looked at the cat, and then at Teddie and Ren, thoroughly confused “Uh...”

“I don't think he can understand you Morgana.” Teddie suggested as Morgana slinked back into the lap of the Phantom Thief.

“How am I supposed to understand a cat meowing at me?” Yosuke snapped.

“But he's not meowing, he's talking.”

“No he's not.”

“So a cat having a Persona is something you're fine with, but that cat talking isn't?” Ren asked.

“I've seen a dog summon a Persona,” Yosuke pointed out “But it didn't talk outside of barking.”

“There's a dog that can summon a Persona?” The phantom thief asked enthusiastically “Where?”

“Oh, I think he's working with-” Teddie began before Yosuke slammed the desk.

“We're getting distracted here! Teddie, you're in deep enough trouble for skipping work so don't push it,” Yosuke yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the mascot “As for you...” he said turning to Ren “Can you try and keep what happened today a secret?”

“Huh?” the cat and boy pair let out as Yosuke calmed down.

“There's people out there who you probably don't want to get involved with, and they'll be very interested in new Personas showing up after this long. So try and keep it secret and stay out of the TV, it's not safe for anyone, even if you can defend yourself,” he sighed “And that goes for you too Teddie. No spreading this about like a... like a... thing that spreads things.”

“Alright...” Teddie sighed before he trudged back off to work.

“So... are we done here?” Ren asked, cat in hand.

“I guess.” The manager shrugged as he turned to the computer.

“Can you at least relax the no-cat rule? It'll save both of us a lot of headaches.” Ren suggested.

“Get the heck outta here!”

* * *

The sun was low in the sky as Ren walked Nanako back home, he owed it to her after ditching the detective's daughter at the food court. “I guess it was a bit of a long shot, should have known Teddie would get us caught.” She sighed as they approached the hill.

“It's not your fault, Morgana wondered off on his own, he does that.” Ren shrugged as he heard the cat grumble in minor retaliation at the notion that it was all his fault.

“Sure...would have thought Yosuke would let him stay in though...” she grumbled as well.

“You know him?” Ren asked before mentally kicking himself, a town this small nearly everyone knew everyone one way or another. He was probably her uncle's cousin's sister's college room mate or something.

“He's my brother's boyfriend. Although he's stuck in Osaka so they've both been working non-stop to try and take their minds off it,” Nanako explained “Its not really working.”

“Oh,” Said Ren as he stopped dead in front of the Dojima residence. Didn't see that one coming. “Well, hope it works out for them then. Long distance relationships are rough and it's really easy to burn yourself out when that's weighing you down.”

“Mmhmm,” Nanako nodded along “Thanks for walking me home.”

“See ya.” He waved before turning around and walking to his own place before her dad tried to shove him into a cop car for the crime of existing near his teenage daughter.

“So... the Midnight Channel huh?” Morgana said as he paced up the hill.

“Yeah, that was a thing.” Ren whistled

“Yup.” the cat agreed as they continued walking into the fading light. “You know... since we were exploring another world...”

“Don't say it.” The Phantom Thief groaned.

“You look tired...” Morgana began in a sickly sweet tone, enjoying every word.

“Don't-” Ren warned.

“...You should go to bed!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey, Persona 4 came out on steam, that's a thing.


	12. Chapter 12

It had been a long time since Hiroki Ryu had woken up with aching ribs, natures little reminders to the fact that yes: you did get into a street fight with a cop last night and no: it wasn't the smartest thing to do, even if you won. Couple that with day-after-exercise stiffness and it took a determined effort to shuffle into the shower and let the wet heat beat down the pain long enough for the security guard to face the day, and that started with reporting to the police station first thing in the morning.

“Yo, Ryu-san,” Kanji called out as Hiroki stepped through the doors “Sleep aright?”

“Best night for a while, waking up was rough though,” the bigger man sighed “Everything alright with Sanada?”

“Yeah, he's not gonna be around here for a long while,” Kanji nodded with a smile “Turns out he was in deep shit anyway with his boss 'cause of something else he did so you're clear, anything that might come back to bite ya 's gonna get written off as Akihiko being an idiot. Yosuke was laughing his ass off when he found out.”

“His boss? What, the Tokyo Police?” Hiroki asked as he sat down next to the blond.

“Nah, he's...” Kanji paused as he realised who he was speaking with, and what he didn't know “Uh... I think he's with Tatsumi Port Island Police Department. When he's not going 'round everywhere.” He settled for, nodding to himself as the policeman who had the lucky task of showing them what they'd be doing every other morning.

“Alright you two, enough of the small talk, this isn't meant to be fun 'I got the day off work' times,” the patrol man chided, holding a bright yellow bundle under his arm “Follow me.” He gestured as he led the two men out of the station and into his patrol car for a quick drive out up the mountain, the road weaving its way up the slope and through the thick trees before stopping at a scenic viewpoint on a dirt road. The sound of rushing wind and running water slowly making their way into the cramped car.

“So what're we doing?” Hiroki asked as he stepped out, taking a look over the town in the distance with Kanji while the cop reached into the trunk of the car.

“You're on beautification duty, you'll need these.” the cop said, handing both men a yellow jacket for visibility each, a large black sack and a pole to grab things with.

“What? We gotta pick up trash?” Kanji instantly complained, putting together what all the equipment meant.

“Pretty much, yeah.” The policeman shrugged as he stepped back into his car.

“Dude, this week's Yasogami's camping trip. If we pick trash here they're gonna have nothing to do and its gonna suck harder than normal!” The blond protested to deaf ears.

“So? It's standard community service stuff. So get out there and serve the community! Someone'll pick you up at lunch time.” He dismissed before driving off and leaving the two men in the dust, the clatter of a coffee cup bouncing on the path barely audible as it came to a rest in the middle.

“Gah!” Kanji groaned as he slipped on the bright yellow jacket “I really hate the cops sometimes...”

“Let's just get this over with...” Hiroki sighed as he did the same, trudging over to the coffee cup with an air of resignation. How nice of the policeman to give them a starting point like that “What's this about a school camping trip?” He asked.

“Oh right, they probably didn't do those in Tokyo schools.” Kanji said, wondering about where you could possibly go camping in a concrete jungle.

“Not the one I went to anyway.”

“So basically the school me, Yosuke, Chie and a bunch of friends went to does a camping trip here to 'Learn an appreciation of local beauty' or some bullshit every year,” Kanji explained “First time I went was a god damn nightmare. Most of it was stupid kid crap 'cause we weren't sure who we really were back then but some stuff... ugh.” The blond brawler shuddered at the recollection as he wandered off, spying a can in amongst the roots.

“Sorry I asked.” Hiroki winced.

“Nah, its fine. Like I said: stupid kid crap. Except getting puked on by a teacher.”

Hiroki shrugged as he scanned the leaves on the forest floor, only putting together what Kanji had just said a minute later “You got puked on by a teacher?” He asked, stunned. He knew things could be more lax out in the sticks, but not that lax.

“Yeaaah...” Kanji groaned as he searched the grass “Anyway, the second time round didn't suck so bad. But I skipped the third time, 'cause I broke my wrist punching a wall.”

“Why did you punch a wall?”

“'Cause I needed an excuse to skip the camping trip,” the blond answered before both men broke out laughing “Eh, nobody takes it that seriously any more,” Kanji sighed as the giggles stopped “It's been almost ten years, I was shocked when Dojima told me it was still on, like they couldn't find anything better to do to make people forget about exams.”

“Ah well. Better than being stuck in school forever I guess.”

“Yeah, made you really appreciate sitting down on the shitty chairs when you've tried to make yourself comfy on a rock.”

“Tell me about it,” Hiroki lamented as he shook his head, thinking back to his brief stays in the homeless camp in West Park “You never really appreciate the comforts in life until they're taken away. Anyway, did you get that thing sent off in time?”

“The... Oh! Yeah, that's gone. Should be there today really, and before you ask: don't worry 'bout it. No-one is gonna know where and who it came from, except the guy getting it.” Kanji grinned, giving a confident thumbs up.

The big man breathed a sigh of relief as he got to work. At least someone tracing a fluffy toy in Okinawa back to him in Inaba wasn't something anyone had to worry about.

* * *

It had taken a lot of preparation for this trip, but Rise Kujikawa was confident that she had taken enough measures to achieve the utmost secrecy. It may have taken a lot of convincing to secure the aid of a police detective to get the Idol out of her normal touring schedule and into the tropical haven of Okinawa, all to drive to a little place on the coast called Morning Glory Orphanage with absolutely zero press knowledge or involvement. Lucky for her that the detective in question was so easily bribed with hugs and kisses. “Thank you soo much for doing this with me.” The idol cooed from the back seat of their rented car.

“Still can't believe you roped me into this...” The blue-haired driver sighed as she parked the car along the road. Of all the Investigation Team: Naoto had the best run of saying 'No' to Rise when she was committed to getting something, but even the Detective Prince had limits to just how much of the Idol's tried and tested puppy-dog eyes she could refuse.

“I roped you in because you need a vacation too!” Rise argued “You've been working flat out not just on your own cases but training Yu as well, so you're officially taking the time off with me! Shame we couldn't get Kanji in on this as well, stupid biker gang... ruining everyone's plans...” she trailed off, grumbling.

“Let's just get this over with, shall we?” Naoto asked, making sure everything was safe before opening the car door “Your former co-worker will probably be surprised to see you.”

“Come on, I'm sure you'll love her too.” Rise insisted as she excitedly pulled a blue box wrapped in a red ribbon off her seat, wincing as the midday heat hit her as soon as she left the air conditioned car.

“If you say so...” Naoto said, letting the bright and cheerful brunette lead her to the main door, rang the bell and waited.

“Uh...Hello?” Stammered the lanky, black-haired teenage boy wearing a soccer kit who had the misfortune of answering “Are you um...”

“We're here to see Haruka, and no we're not the paparazzi.” Rise said as she pushed her way in effortlessly before either the boy or Naoto could object to her actions.

“Who is it, Koji?” Called a voice from inside over the buzzing of numerous fans that, as Naoto internally noted, sounded a lot like a more tired and slightly older version of Rise.

“It's Risette!” Rise called out with characteristic charm.

“Risette..?” The voice repeated as it's owner walked around the corner to see just who had barged their way in, raising her hand to her mouth in shock when she found out “Rise-kun!” she whispered.

Rise didn't wait before she pounced on the shocked young woman, wrapping her arms around her for a big hug while she left both Koji and Naoto in the dust “It's been way too long, Haruka-kun!” she squealed happily as Haruka embraced her tightly in return.

“I thought you were back in the limelight?” Haruka asked, still holding on.

“I am! But everyone's got to take a break every now and then,” Rise explained as they spun around in what looked like the living room, only stopping when Rise noticed Naoto's look of utter confusion “Oh, right. Introductions. Kinda important. Haruka: this is Naoto Shirogane, the Detective Prince. Naoto: meet Haruka Sawamura, former number one idol and current number one mom!”

“You don't need to go that far...” Haruka whispered as her cheeks flushed red.

“Uh... pleasure to meet you?” Naoto said nervously, stepping in to shakily wave at the two idols before she got inevitably yanked in closer.

“So, where's the Birthday boy?” Rise asked, nodding towards the bright package that got squished between the three of them.

“It's not his birthday yet.” Haruka chided, gently pushing the over-eager Rise away.

“I know I'm a little early,” Rise pouted “But I'm not going to really get another chance to see him. It's only a matter of time before the press realise I'm out here and you already had enough problems with those guys.”

“You know the eyes don't work on other idols, right?” Haruka pointed out, folding her arms as a grin crept onto her face

“You're not an idol any more.” Rise argued before a young man with short hair, a black chain necklace and a loose shirt poked his head around the corner.

“Hey babe, who's-” he began before seeing everyone in the room together “Uh, hi.”

“Yuta!” Haruka cheered, taking the distraction to latch herself to her boyfriend's arm “This is Rise and Naoto. She's a friend from my time in showbiz.”

“Cool... hey, is that for Haruto?” He asked nervously, pointing at the papered box.

“Uh huh,” Rise nodded “Is the baby boy around here somewhere?”

“Yeah, he's out back on the beach with Taichi. But you gotta hide the present.” He insisted.

“Why?”

“He's a toddler, you hold something like that and he won't want to wait a couple days. He already ripped into one gift already.” Yuta explained with a level of exasperation, indicating it as a speech he'd had to say more times than he wanted to.

“You shouldn't have taken your eyes off him.” Haruka scolded as Naoto handed the box over to Koji.

“It was like, five seconds! I was only closing the door after getting the mail, how was I supposed to know he'd bite through the paper in that time?” Yuta complained.

“We're not having this argument again.” Haruka instructed as she led Rise and Naoto out onto the beach side decking, a tiny little toddler being chased around with a plush bird doll in his hands and a massive smile on his face as he ran as fast as he could on the sand and salt blasted wood.

“Lookathimhe'ssocute!” Rise squealed as the little boy stopped to look at the newcomers, torn between hiding behind his mom or just staying away from the strangers.

“Come here Haruto,” Haruka cooed, gently scooping the toddler off his feet and into her arms “Say hello to mommy's friends.”

“I can feel my heart melting already.” Rise sighed with a smile as Haruto waved his cartoon bird doll at both her and Naoto.

“That might be the heat,” Naoto suggested as she wiped the sweat off her forehead “So how old is he?” She asked.

“He'll be two years old on Thursday,” Haruka answered, stroking her son to try and stop him climbing out of her arms. “Do you want to hold him? He can be very well behaved when he wants to.”

It took a lot of self control from Rise to only answer “Yes please.” In a normal voice and not a joyous shriek, as she held out her arms to receive him, holding him gently over her shoulder with a contented smile.

Naoto on the other hand was more interested in what the toddler was holding, even if it meant getting smacked in the face by it while trying to get a closer look “Was that the first gift?” She asked as Haruto grabbed a lock of blue hair.

“Yeah, now its his favourite thing ever,” Yuta chuckled as he offered his finger for his son to grab instead, only for him to keep his baby death grip on Naoto's hair “Although I think blue hair might be a close second.”

* * *

After saying their goodbyes to the family and the rest of the Orphanage crew, Naoto had a thoughtful expression on her face as she started up the car, opening the doors to let some of the hot air rush out before both of them piled in and let the wonders of modern technology keep them cool “Phew! I owe whoever invented air conditioned cars a million yen,” Rise sighed as she collapsed onto the seat, pulling down her top to let the climate control blast straight at the skin, only noticing the intense focus in the detectives eyes as she drove off “What's wrong?”

“That bird...” she mumbled “Has Haruka ever been to Inaba?”

“No,” Rise shook her head “She's only really been in Tokyo and Okinawa, why?”

“Then why did she get a doll made by Tatsumi Textiles?”

“What!?” Rise yelped, thankful for the privacy of the car “Kanji made that bird for Haruto?”

“There's no mistaking it, it was his handiwork,” Naoto nodded “But why would the son of an idol receive it? Kanji normally only sells the fabrics and clothes online, not custom dolls. Family in Inaba perhaps?”

“Yuta's around our age,” Rise pointed out as Naoto pulled out her phone “He could have been at another school.”

“Highly unlikely,” Naoto argued “His accent is strongly associated with Hiroshima and the Chugoku region. Even if he had moved to Okinawa while he was young and had family in Inaba, you would expect him to have more of a local accent. What about Haruka's family? If she herself has never been that doesn't rule out grandparents.”

“Definite no there,” Rise explained “Her only family's her adoptive dad, a major figure in the Yakuza. It's what caused the press to drive her out of the idol business.” Rise added with a bitter tone “But... he died as well. All she's really got left is Yuta, Haruto and the other orphans.”

“Wait,” Naoto interrupted “Do you remember his name?” She asked.

“Uh... I think it was Kiryu? Kiryu Kazuma.”

If the detective had been drinking anything, she would have spat it out. But instead, she was driving, so she quickly came to the stop at the side of the road “Kazuma Kiryu!?” She repeated, her eyes wide “She's the daughter of Kazuma Kiryu? _The_ Dragon Of Dojima!?”

“Uhhh...” Rise hesitated, she didn't sign up for this level of inquisition when she booked the flight “Yes? How do you know him?”

“He's a legend with the police in both Tokyo and Osaka. You couldn't look through a filing cabinet without his name being mentioned in cases,” Naoto explained “But you said he died, around this time last year?”

“Full funeral and everything.” Rise nodded.

“If the timing is right, that would have been around the time of the releases...” Naoto pondered “A Tokyo detective opted to switch to the Inaba PD, closely associated with Kiryu and the cases he was involved in. He claimed it was preparation for retirement, but now... there's too many coincidences to write this off,” The blue haired detective sighed “Sorry. I probably shouldn't be doing this.”

“You need to get your head out of detective mode. You're not on duty and you won't be for another week.” Rise told her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder as she leaned over the handbrake.

“I know...” Naoto groaned.

“Okay, so what you're going to do now is this: Write down these thoughts on a notepad or something. Then, when we get to the hotel and unpack, shove it so deep into your suitcase that it'll only show up when we get back home and unpack there, alright?” Rise instructed “Kanji's not going anywhere, and we can ask him _after_ our holiday. Not during it, so no calling him in the night.”

“Okay.” The detective agreed, re-starting the car and setting off again.

“Because if I find you working on this before we touch down on the mainland, I'll tickle you to death.” Rise added while the waited at the traffic lights.

“That's assault on an officer of the law!” Naoto spluttered.

“Not if I do it while you're off duty it isn't~”


	13. Chapter 13

Cooking on school equipment was never the best idea, especially if the school equipment looked at least twenty years old. It also didn't help to be cooking in a large pan outside, exposed to the elements, every breeze a threat to the delicate procedure and no control over just how strong the flames should be, but Ren Amiyama persevered throughout the ordeal as he bared the pride of Sojiro Sakura's legacy as a curry chef. It had taken days of preparation: slicing, cutting and preparing the ingredients in the security of his own home with decent knifes rather that the narrow metal clubs that the school expected them to wield, it had meant he was carrying at least twice what everyone else was despite leaving Morgana behind but hopefully the results would be more than worth it.

The aromatic smell wafted through the campsite, drawing even the shyest of students towards the cooking station to find out what smelt so good “Wow,” One of the tracksuited kids spoke in awe “Where'd he learn to cook like this? Prison doesn't have cookbooks, does it?” Unfortunately the awe of someone being able to cook confidently didn't grind the rumour mill to a halt, but after a whole year of taking crap in Shujin, the low level stuff of Yasogami high could wash over him like water off a ducks back. He wasn't cooking for them! Well, he was, in the strictly literal sense that was what he was doing, but he was cooking for himself in both the literal and metaphorical sense. It had been a long time since he'd cooked a meal bigger than 3 people but he was rising to the challenge as he started to dish out the good stuff.

“Hey! Amiyama-chan!” Called the excitable first year known to the world as Nanako Dojima, waving him over to her group of friends, all looking nervous at the prospect of a third-year sitting next to them, let alone a third-year boy at that.

“Hey Nanako,” Ren grunted as he sat down on the long benches, ready to dig in “Everything going alright?”

“Mhm!” The detective's daughter nodded “There actually wasn't a lot of stuff to pick up. The way my bro said it, I'd thought there'd be a lot more to do but its been really quiet.”

“I heard that Nanako-chan's dad made two men do it all before we got here.” One of the group of tiny teenagers whispered.

“He's not that over-protective is he?” whispered another, to which Ren kept his mouth firmly shut.

“Stop it! he's not gonna use his job like that.” Nanako scolded before finally taking a bite of the curry that smelled so great in the pan. The effect was instantaneous as the detective's daughter and the rest of the group of youngsters quit their gossip and started to demolish the plates in front of them.

But when Ren took a bite, his shoulders slumped and he hung his head in shame. “Mediocre...” he whispered under his breath, letting the fork clatter onto the plastic plate.

“Huh?” Nanako let out as she saw Ren slump down on the bench “What are you talking about? It's great!”

“Indeed,” Agreed Yusuke “You're being too harsh on yourself.”

Crickets started to chirp as everyone slowly turned their heads, eyes and mouths wide, to face this new appearance. The teenaged artist was sitting there, on the bench, in his school uniform, with a plate full of Ren's curry as if he was supposed to be miles away from where everyone expected him to be. Again.

“Uh... Yusuke?” Ren began, trying to piece together how best to ask 'What the fuck' without actually saying it.

“Yes?” Yusuke asked back.

“What are you doing here?” The leader settled for.

“What do you mean?” Fox asked again, still not getting what was going on as Ren sighed. Stares were to Yusuke what malicious rumours were to him. He'd gotten a lot better at just blanking them out.

“This is a Yasogami high camping trip, you don't go to a school anywhere near here.” He settled for as he ate more of the curry, even if it wasn't his best work it was still food.

“Oh, I'm here on a school excursion as well,” The artist explained “It was probably unnecessary to come this far from Tokyo to see the beauty at the edge between civilization and nature but that was Kosei's decision, not my own.”

“It's Hawaii all over again.” Ren chuckled, relaxing as he threw an arm over Yusuke's shoulder.

“At least I'm supposed to be here this time.” He laughed back as the other students finished their meals, trying not to look as though they were actively fleeing from this mysterious stranger who suddenly showed up and embraced one of the spookiest kids in school and instead merely leaving to their tents very cautiously.

“So is there a bunch of tents the other side or..?”

“No, we're staying at a local place. There's daily excursions to various locations so we needed a place we could retreat to.”

“Well that's better than what we got,” Ren moaned, thinking about being stuck between slopes and rocks. This camp site was not big enough for a school trip any more “Can't wait to have an actual bed again.”

“I wouldn't have minded going camping instead. Being able to sleep under the stars sounds better than sleeping under a creaking air conditioner.” Yusuke shrugged

“Camping for fun with friends is one thing, camping because the school's still using twenty year old tents and doesn't want to pay for new stuff but still has to do trips is another.” Ren pointed out.

“True. Maybe in the summer we could arrange one? The eight of us in the wilderness...”

“Man, Futaba would freak the second she loses phone signal.”

“All the more reason to go.” The artist said, trying his hardest to keep a straight face even as Ren shoved him in the shoulder.

“So, are you free Sunday? We're packing up tomorrow so we can be in town for the weekend.” Ren asked as the voice of teachers bellowing instructions slowly started to dominate the ambient sounds of the wooded hillside.

“We should be, perhaps you can give me a full tour of your hometown.” Yusuke suggested with a smile.

“Prepare to be underwhelmed,” the leader of the phantom thieves grimaced “Well... there is something that might be cool.”

* * *

For all the talk about Inaba being a sleepy town, there was suddenly a barrage of activity on Sunday. Junes was packed to the rafters with all the schoolkids desperate to re-acquaint themselves with civilization and the main shopping district was busier than normal, especially around the Tofu shop. “Is it a tofu appreciation day or something?” Hiroki wondered to himself as he tried to avoid toppling over several members of the crowd, managing to overhear a familiar voice below out from inside.

“If you're here to gawk and not to buy, get lost!” Kanji yelled, standing in front of the main counter in an intimidating fashion “Whatever you heard, its a bunch of bullshit, so no creepin'!”

“Oi, Kanji,” Hiroki called out as the latest bunch scurried out with phones in hand “What's going on?”

“AND IF I SEE YOU PUNKS OUT HERE AGAIN I'LL- oh hey Hiroki, what's up?” Kanji calmed down after spotting his fellow giant.

“Didn't think a place like this needs security.”

“Yeah, normally it don't. But sometimes people think Risette's back in town and the place gets swarmed.” the blond groaned as two lanky black haired teenagers managed to make their way in as the rest of the crowd scattered.

“Risette? As in the idol?” Hiroki asked.

“Oh, you know her?” Kanji asked back as the security guard balked, this was getting into awkward territory.

“I know _of_ her, had friends and family who were big into idol stuff.” Hiroki specified all too quickly.

“Yeah... Yosuke was the worst about that sorta stuff,” the punk reminisced before his expression of warm nostalgia changed to one of confusion “Did you hear a cat meow just then?”

“...Are cats allowed in here?”

“Don't think so, its a food shop. You leave anything out and a cat's gonna go straight for it,” Kanji commented, only for another muffled meow to pierce his ears. “Okay, I definitely heard a cat that time, what gives?”

“Perhaps its one of the local strays in the alley again Tatsumi-san.” The elderly woman at the till suggested as the two teenagers scurried out with a bag of tofu. One desperately trying not to look at the two burly men, while the other couldn't help but look as he was dragged out by the arm.

“Eh, probably,” Kanji dismissed, and no objection from any felines in the local area were going to say otherwise. “Anyway, you seen Teddie around Hiroki? He's left me on read.”

“He quit work same time I did, said he had something important to do...”

* * *

The setting sun provided an orange hue to the dry grass on the banks of the floodplain, light glimmering off the river illuminating even those concealed by shadows. It was in this mundane yet stunning atmosphere that Yusuke got to work on his final project for the trip, setting up his easel on the bank of the river while Morgana and Ren sat next to him on the grass. “So how long is this gonna take?” Morgana meowed out, glad to be out of the bag again.

“Patience...” Yusuke cautioned as he studied his subject intently, the sharp contrast of forms giving him inspiration as the consumerist form below nearly swallowed the soul whole, yet the natural beauty was still visible.

“Uh... guys...” Teddie called out as he tried to keep still, only wearing the bottom half of his trademarked bear costume as he held his arms up in the air. Only the force of will and some discreet supports keeping him decent “My arms are starting to hurt real bad.”


End file.
